Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) coach and former Zimbabwe captain Andy Flower feels Abhishek Sharma is yet to cement his spot as opener in the T20I side despite his maiden ton on July 7 at Harare Sports Club. Flower said that Abhishek’s competition for the spot will be Yashasvi Jaiswal who will join the team for the remaining three T20Is of the five-match series.
"Well, we have got Jaiswal still coming into the series, haven't we? So that sort of competition is exactly what the Indian selectors and all the Indian followers are looking for. It makes it really interesting and it's great for the Indian game if they have got lots of options like that," Flower responded to a query on Sony Sports while reviewing India’s 100-run win over Zimbabwe to level the series 1-1.
After bagging a four-ball duck on his debut, Abhishek did not curb his natural instinct to attack but took calculated risks during quickfire century. The 56-year-old said that he is a young player who has tremendous confidence and self-belief.
"He should be confident at the moment coming off such a great IPL and then getting a hundred in his second international match. So what a great start. It's really important to get those runs as a young player because confidence and self-belief are so important to your chance of doing well. So I am very happy for him and I am looking forward to seeing more of him in this series," Flower added.
No game for Jaiswal since IPL 2024
Jaiswal who will join the side ahead of the third T20I on July 10 has not played a competitive game since Rajasthan Royals (RR) got knocked out of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024. He did not feature in the practice game during T20 World Cup 2024 as Virat Kohli opened the innings alongside skipper Rohit Sharma.
Jaiswal’s T20I numbers
Jaiswal has had success in T20Is so far with 502 runs from 16 innings at an average of 33.46 including one century and four half-centuries. His strike rate is an impressive 161.93.
The southpaw was not at his best in the IPL 2024. He scored 435 runs from 15 games at an average of 31.07 including one century and one fifty. His strike raet is 155.91.
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