India's young batter Abhishek Sharma revealed that Pakistan's unnecessary drama helped him to dominate with the bat during the Super Four clash of the Asia Cup 2025 at Dubai International Stadium in Dubai. Pakistan bowlers, especially Shaheen Shah Afridi and Haris Rauf, were spotted poking the Indian openers after Abhishek started the proceedings with a six off Shaheen Shah Afridi.
Abhishek further stated he went against Pakistan bowlers after they were coming out at them without any reason and he wanted to deliver for the team.
"Today was pretty simple, the way they were coming out to us without any reason, I did not like it at all. That's why I went after them. I wanted to deliver for the team. We have been playing since school days, we enjoy each other's company, we thought we would do it and today was the day. The way he was giving it back, I really enjoyed it. If you see someone playing like this, that's the intent I show and I'm practicing really hard and if it's my day, I'm gonna win it for my team" said Abhishek Sharma in post match presentation.
Notably, tensions flared during the fourth over when Abhishek Sharma and Shubman Gill were seen involved in a brief verbal exchange with Haris Rauf. The incident occurred on the final delivery of the over, which Rauf bowled. Shubman Gill, India’s vice-captain, drove the ball for a boundary and appeared to exchange words with Rauf immediately after. Moments later, Rauf seemed to direct a comment towards Abhishek Sharma, who didn’t hold back in his response. Umpire Gazi Sohel quickly stepped in to diffuse the situation.
Coming back to the match, Abhishek Sharma's 74 off 39 helped India to seal a six-wicket win against Pakistan.
Brief Scores:
Pakistan: 171 for 5 in 20 overs (Sahibzada Farhan 58, Saim Ayub 21, Mohammad Nawaz 21; Hardik Pandya 1/29, Kuldeep Yadav 1/31, Shivam Dube 2/33).
India: 174 for 4 in 18.5 overs (Shubman Gill 47, Abhishek Sharma 74, Tilak Varma 30 not out; Haris Rauf 2/26).