India's Asia Cup 2025 hero Abhishek Sharma fails to perform for Punjab in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2025 clash against Haryana

India's Asia Cup 2025 winning star Abhishek Sharma , who is currently leading Punjab in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT) 2025, failed to perform in the team's last outing against Haryana. The southpaw was dismissed after scoring just six runs in five balls during Punjab’s 208-run chase against Haryana at the Gymkhana Ground in Hyderabad.

Anshul Kamboj picked up Abhishek Sharma's wicket

Amritsar-born Abhishek was bowled by Anshul Kamboj in the third over. Before walking back, he struck one boundary and shared a quick 27-run opening stand with Prabhsimran Singh in a little over two overs. Prabhsimran, who had an excellent IPL 2025 season for Punjab Kings, also couldn’t do much this time and was out for 20 runs off 10 balls.

Abhishek's upcoming assignment

Abhishek is expected to be picked for India’s T20I squad for the five-match series against South Africa next month, but his recent performances haven’t been encouraging. He hasn’t made a big score in his last four competitive games. In Punjab’s opening SMAT match, he scored only 4 against Himachal Pradesh, and in the three unofficial ODIs for India A against South Africa A, he made 31, 32, and 11.

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He had a good chance to earn a spot in India’s ODI team for the upcoming South Africa series, but couldn’t make the most of it. Meanwhile, Maharashtra batter Ruturaj Gaikwad seized his opportunity by scoring a century and a fifty for India A and was included in the ODI squad as Shubman Gill’s replacement.

Nishant Sindhu put excellent show vs Haryana

While Abhishek struggled on Friday, Haryana’s Nishant Sindhu put on an excellent show. Coming in at No. 3, he smashed 61 off 32 balls, hitting 8 fours and 3 sixes. He added 74 runs for the second wicket with captain Ankit Kumar, who scored 51 off 26. After Ankit got out, Sindhu continued to build the innings, adding another 62 runs with wicketkeeper Yashvardhan Dalal.

Abhishek Sharma's performance in Asia Cup 2025

Abhishek Sharma was the highest run-getter in the Asia Cup 2025, scoring 314 runs in the tournament. He also broke the record for the most runs in a single T20I Asia Cup edition.