Former Indian all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin lavished praise on Abhishek Sharma after SRH vs CSK IPL 2026 match at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad on Saturday. The left-hander scored 59 runs off 22 balls against the five-time champions while batting in front of his home crowd.

The southpaw smashed six fours and four sixes in his blistering knock as he scored his runs at a blistering strike rate of 268.18. Sharma took the attack against CSK’s off-spinner Matthew Short in the fifth over of the innings. The left-hander smashed the Australian spinner for three fours and two sixes.

The youngster had struggled to get going against off-spin in the T20 World Cup but it wasn’t to be the case on Saturday as he batted at the top of his game.

“Finally, he (Abhishek) got out on the ball, which was on the stumps. But that over he took down Matt Short was special batting up enough because I have not seen a lot of players who can hit the ball standing from afar,” Ashwin said while speaking on JioHotstar. 

“These are like that one was in the slot, but this one was away from him, arched back and just took it down. These are special shots and for someone like Matt Short, who is coming into his first game, bowling to someone like Abhishek Sharma isn’t easy,” Ashwin added.

Abhishek’s blistering knock helped SRH post a competitive total of 194 runs on the board. 

The SRH opener has scored 188 runs in six matches of IPL 2026 at an average of 31.33 and a whirlwind strike rate of 229.26.