The young Indian team which is being led by Shubman Gill has bounced back in a great manner after losing the first T20I of the 5-match series which India is playing against Zimbabwe.
All the matches are being played at Harare Sports Club and in the second T20I match, India defeated Zimbabwe by 100 runs as the hosts were wrapped at 134 runs in 18.4 overs while chasing a target of 235 runs.
The young Indian cricketer Abhishek Sharma played a brilliant knock of 100 runs for which he played 47 deliveries and his innings included 7 fours & 8 sixes. Useful knocks were also played by Ruturaj Gaikwad (77 runs not out, 47 balls, 11 fours & 1 six) and Rinku Singh (48 runs not out, 22 balls, 2 fours & 5 sixes).
The former Zimbabwe cricketer Andy Flower was full of praises for Abhishek Sharma but he also warned him of the strong competition that he is going to face soon. The senior cricketers Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja have retired from the T20I format so it is quite obvious that the Indian team will be entering the transition phase.
Andy Flower stated in an interview that Yashasvi Jaiswal is going to come into the series soon and Abhishek will certainly face a good competition for opening the innings from Yashasvi as the latter is also a left-handed attacking batter and this is the type of competition that the Indian selectors and fans are looking forward to.
Yashasvi Jaiswal was a part of India’s T20 World Cup squad but he didn’t get the chance to play any match in the tournament. Andy Flower further says that it will be interesting to see both of them competing for the position of the opener and it would be really great for Indian cricket if they will have a good number of options.
Talking about Abhishek Sharma, Andy Flower says that he must be very confident because he had a great IPL and then he scored a century in his second T20 international which is really a good start.
According to Andy Flower, it is really important to get runs as a youngster because good confidence and self-belief increase the chances of achieving success in the career. The former Zimbabwean cricketer who is also the head coach of Royal Challengers Bangalore concluded by saying that he is really happy for Abhishek and will like to see more of him in the series.
The third T20I between India and Zimbabwe will be played tomorrow (10 July 2024).
