T20 World Cup 2026: ‘A learning curve for him; silenced his doubters’ – Legendary batter praises Abhishek Sharma after match-winning knock against Zimbabwe

Former India batter Sunil Gavaskar has lauded opener Abhishek Sharma after he returned to form with a brisk half-century against Zimbabwe in India’s T20 World Cup 2026 Super Eight fixture on February 26 at Chennai’s MA Chidambaram Stadium.

Abhishek had made a disastrous start to the tournament, scoring a duck against the USA in India’s tournament opener at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, and missed the second group-stage clash against Namibia in Delhi due to a stomach bug. The left-hander’s fortune did not change upon his return to the XI for the clash against Pakistan, as he scored another nought in Colombo and extended the horrendous patch with another identical score against Netherlands in Ahmedabad.

He bettered the performance against South Africa in India’s first Super Eight fixture, but his scratchy 15-run knock, in which he played seven false shots in the 12 balls he faced, continued to mount the pressure. Abhishek finally regained his touch against Zimbabwe, scoring 30-ball 55 with four fours and sixes each in India’s 72-run win.

Unlike the previous instances when the southpaw tried to go on the offensive right from the onset, he bided his time in the middle against Zimbabwe and mixed caution with aggression to crawl out of the slump, something Gavaskar labelled as a “learning curve” for the youngster.

“We know how good Abhishek Sharma is as a batter. He silenced his doubters with this knock of 55 runs against Zimbabwe. He took that extra time to start his innings. There was a method to his batting. He respected the off spinner, didn’t take any kind of risks and played in a calm & composed manner,” Gavaskar said on JioStar.

“In this game, he actually played a defensive shot. He defended the ball. I was surprised to see that because we don’t usually see Abhishek do that. I really think this is a learning curve for him. Every cricketer goes through a rough patch of not scoring runs in back-to-back games. It is about how much you learn from it. I feel Abhishek has learned a lot and this will augur well for him going forward, in the next couple of games and the all-important clash against West Indies in Kolkata,” he concluded.

India will face West Indies in a virtual knockout clash at Eden Gardens on March 1.