India opener Abhishek Sharma and his run of poor performances got extended in the ongoing IND vs ENG T20 World Cup 2026 semifinal with another cheap dismissal of 9 (7 balls). The dynamic left-hander started the tournament with a hattrick of ducks, and has managed only one fifty so far, which came against Zimbabwe.
Interestingly, Abhishek has mostly been targeted in a similar fashion, with four out of his seven dismissals so far coming against spinners, out of which three have been opposite right-arm off spinners.
England too exploited the same, introducing spin early in the second over in Will Jacks, and it paid off as Abhishek departed once again playing on his leg side. Knowing Abhishek’s tendency to lob the ball over the midwicket region for a maximum, England had changed their fielding just two balls prior, stationing a fielder in the deep midwicket area.
Jacks bowled a slower delivery at 85.4kph, forcing Abhishek to take the bait. He could not time it perfectly and it came off the bottom part of the bat as Salt completed an easy catch in the end.
Earlier in the Pakistan game as well during the group stage, Salman Ali Agha employed a similar tactic and Abhishek had fallen prey.
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Speaking about the IND vs ENG match so far, despite the early blow from the dismissal of Abhishek Sharma, India remained unfazed due to the Sanju Samson show. The wicketkeeper-batter, who played a clinical knock of 97* against West Indies in a virtual quarter-final to help India advance to the semis in the previous fixture, picked up from where he left off with another blinder of a knock, scoring a fiery 42-ball 89. Samson made the most of the reprieve that he got on 15 after England skipper Harry Brook dropped a sitter.
Samson, along with Ishan Kishan, scripted an explosive 97-run stand for the second wicket as England bowlers were left clueless in the middle. At the time of writing this report, the Indian scoreboard read 177/3 in 15 overs with Shivam Dube and Suryakumar Yadav currently batting in the middle.
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