NEW DELHI: India’s fiery left-hand batter Abhishek Sharma is dealing in only two ways in the India vs New Zealand T20I series. One is a breathtaking innings, and the other is a first-ball duck. The latter was repeated in Visakhapatnam during the fourth match of the series.

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Stepping out on the first ball

As usual, Abhishek stepped out on the very first ball of the innings against Matt Henry and caught by Devon Conway for a golden duck. He attempted to carve it over the off-side, but sliced it high over backward point. Conway ran in from deep, dived, and took a superb catch, ending Abhishek’s innings without scoring.

Joining an unwanted list

With this dismissal, Abhishek Sharma now joined the unwanted list of Indian batters who have been dismissed on the very first ball of a T20I innings. The list includes:

  • KL Rahul vs Zimbabwe, Harare 2016
  • Prithvi Shaw vs Sri Lanka, Colombo 2021
  • Rohit Sharma vs West Indies, Basseterre 2022
  • Sanju Samson vs New Zealand, Guwahati 2026
  • Abhishek Sharma vs New Zealand, Visakhapatnam 2026

Meanwhile, in the first innings, New Zealand posted 215 runs, powered by Tim Seifert’s brilliant half-century and some quick-fire contributions from Devon Conway and Daryl Mitchell, setting a challenging total for India to chase.