Mumbai, January 22: Former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra said that the series against England could be the "final opportunity" for all-rounder Abhishek Sharma to leave a massive impact with his consistency as he battles a tough competition for the opening spot.
India's T20I series against England, consisting of five matches, will kickstart from Wednesday onwards, with Abhishek being one of the players in action. Though he hit a half-century and an impactful 36 during his last two T20I innings for India, the explosive left-hander has been extremely inconsistent and faces tough competition for the opening spot from Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Ruturaj Gaikwad in T20Is.
Speaking on Star Sports programme, 'Game Plan', Aakash said that Abhishek's form has been "up and down".
"In the beginning, in his second T20I, he scored a century against Zimbabwe. After that, a lot of promise, a lot of potential, but not enough performance. So, I think for Abhishek Sharma, this is the final opportunity, and I really love the kid. I think if he does well, it will be a great thing. But these five matches--go ahead and live your life. Because in these matches, like Sanju (Samson) has made his name in the last three matches, in the same way, Abhishek will have to do it. Or else, there will be a little change in time, and Jaiswal will come back."
In 12 T20Is, Abhishek has scored 256 runs at an average of 23.27, with a stunning strike rate of 171.81 and best score of 100. He has scored a century and half-century each and has crossed the 20-run mark in only three of his T20I innings.
However, the young Punjab hitter has shown form in domestic cricket, having made 255 runs in seven innings in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT), a T20 competition, at an average of 42.50 and a strike rate of 216.10. He scored a century and a fifty in the competition with best score of 106*.
Stronger performances followed in the one-day competition, Vijay Hazare Trophy (VHT), where he scored 467 runs in eight matches at an average of 58.37, with a strike rate of 130.44. He scored a century, a brilliant knock of 170 in just 96 balls against Saurashtra and three half-centuries.
Squads:
India Squad: Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson(w), Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav(c), Hardik Pandya, Rinku Singh, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Shami, Varun Chakravarthy, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Dhruv Jurel, Harshit Rana
England Squad: Ben Duckett, Philip Salt(w), Jos Buttler(c), Harry Brook, Liam Livingstone, Jacob Bethell, Jamie Overton, Gus Atkinson, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood, Saqib Mahmood, Brydon Carse, Jamie Smith, Rehan Ahmed.
