Andy Flower reckons Abhishek Sharma hasn't yet cemented his place as India's T20I opener despite scoring a belligerent century in the second T20I against Zimbabwe.
Former Zimbabwe cricketer Andy Flower feels that India’s star cricketer Abhishek Sharma hasn’t yet established himself as India’s permanent opener despite his magnificent century against Zimbabwe in the second T20I, which took place on July 7 at Harare Sports Club. The RCB coach made note of his understanding that star batter and 2024 T20 World Cup-winning member Yashasvi Jaiswal will be available for the last three matches of the five-game series and might get the chance to open with Shubman Gill. Meanwhile, the southpaw smashed for 100 runs off of 47 deliveries as the Men in Blue set up an incredible 235-run mark for the hosts. The visitors then dismissed Sikandar Raza and Co. for 134 runs to record a convincing series win and draw 1-1.
Meanwhile, Andy Flower was confronted about whether Abhishek Sharma’s century indicated he was clearly going to be India’s top pick in the limited format. However, the former Zimbabwe skipper acknowledged that the emerging star will benefit from a good start to his international career.
On the other hand, Yashasvi Jaiswal was out celebrating India’s 2024 T20 World Cup victory at home, so he missed the first two T20Is against Zimbabwe. However, for the last three T20ls, the left-handed opener, Sanju Samson, and Shivam Dube are expected to be available for selection.
“Well, we have got Jaiswal still coming into the series, haven’t we? So that sort of competition is exactly what the Indian selectors and all the Indian followers are looking for,” Flower said on Sony Sports.
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The Cape Town-born cricketer feels that the 23-year-old batter must be feeling very confident at this moment, as he recently had the great IPL 2024, where he guided Pat Cummins and Co. to a thrilling final showdown of the event. Andy Flower is further looking forward to Abhishek Sharma getting going in this form in the ongoing series.
“He should be confident at the moment coming off such a great IPL and then getting a hundred in his second international match. So what a great start. So I am very happy for him and I am looking forward to seeing more of him in this series,” he added further.
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