India's T20 World Cup Squad Update: Has Abhishek Sharma Staked His Claim as an Opener to Replace Shubman Gill?

Abhishek Sharma (L) and Shubman Gill (R)

As the deadline for announcing the T20 World Cup 2024 provisional squad approaches, all teams will be racking their brains to pick the final 15 for the biennial event, and for the Indian team, finding the best permutation and combinations to fit their final 15 will be a monumental task. The think tank’s job has been challenging, with players in the fray for a spot in the T20 World Cup 2024 going all guns blazing in the ongoing IPL 2024. Be it Virat Kohli, whose spot in the team has been a central talking point, skipper Rohit Sharma, the designated skipper, or the young upstarts like Shubman Gill and Ishan Kishan, who are making strong claims for a ticket to the USA and the West Indies.

The most significant debate among them all is the top-order spot. Will India go ahead and open with Kohli and Rohit? Or will India opt for a younger option to join forces with Rohit up top? Players like Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Ishan Kishan were the leading horses in the race for the openers slot, but Jasiwal has had a horrid season so far, and Kishan has lacked consistency, allowing other players to stake their claim.

India’s T20 World Cup Update: Abhishek Sharma Stakes A Strong Claim

The havoc that Sunrisers Hyderabad has wreaked in IPL 2024 is insane. While the names of Travis Head, Heinrich Klassen, and Aiden Markram are on everybody’s lips, the young upstart Abhishek Sharma is fast-moving in the minds of the fans with his fiery starts that have aided SRH in the powerplay.

Sharma may not have the big scores to his name in the seven matches he has played, but he has been able to set the pace up the order. He only has one fifty-plus score in IPL 2024 so far and is only 11th in the orange Cap List for IPL 2024, but his strike rate has been stellar – a mind-blogging 215.96.

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That puts him in the second spot with players with the best strike rate in the league so far (min.100 balls faced), behind only his opening partner Travis Head (216.00) by a whisker.

Abhishek Sharma vs Shubman Gill: Who is Better?

Gujarat Titans skipper Shubman Gill is currently fourth in the Orange Cap list for IPL 2024 with 298 runs in 8 matches and is far ahead of Abhishek Sharma. But Gill is striking at 146.79—which is not slow by any stretch of the imagination—but in comparison to Abhishek’s 215.96, it sure is slow. And that is probably one thing that is working for the Punjab player, who also can roll his arms over.

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Gill is already facing the heat, with Kohli in top-notch form and the leading run-getter in IPL 2024 with 379 runs in 7 matches. Rohit Sharma is fifth behind Gill by only one run. If you go by cricketing logic, Kohli has positioned himself to partner Rohit in India’s playing XI. Then comes the question: who should be the backup opener? Gill, up till now, seemed to be the frontrunner, but Abhishek Sharma has indeed inserted himself into the debate

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India can get the Right-Left Combination with Abhishek

Another factor that could work in Abhishek’s favour is the right-hand-left-hand combination India can get if they pick Abhishek. Jaiswal and Kishan too are left-handers, but Jaiswal is lagging in the 28th position in the Orange Cap list, scoring just 121 runs in 7 matches, striking 145.78, and Kishan is 24th with 191 in seven games, striking at 172.97. It is safe to say Abhishek Sharma has truly pipped his fellow left-handers well at this point. And he may well have edged ahead of his Punjab teammate Gill.