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India's destructive opener batter Abhishek Sharma departed without opening his account in the high-voltage clash against Pakistan at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on Sunday.
The ICC No. 1 T20I batter is yet to score in the T20 World Cup as he fell for the second consecutive duck in his second match of the tournament. He made a golden duck in the opener against the USA. The 25-year-old left-handed batter missed the match against Namibia in New Delhi due to a stomach infection. Sanju Samson replaced him in the playing XI and made a quick 22 runs off just eight balls. India were asked to bat first after Pakistan won the toss. Pakistan skipper Salman Ali Agha opened the bowling and got the wicket of Sharma, conceding just one run. Abhishek became the third player from a full-member nation to be dismissed for a duck in the first two games of the T20 World Cup. India's former cricketer Ashish Nehra and Bangladesh's Imrul Kayes are two other players to achieve this unwanted record. Neither Nehra nor Kayes scored a run in their World Cup careers. During the toss, Indian skipper Suryakumar Yadav maintained the status quo on the handshaking tradition with Pakistan, as he didn't extend his hand to the Men in Green skipper, Salman Agha. Following the attack in Pahalgam in April last year and rising tensions between the two nations, the senior Indian men's cricket team had refrained from shaking hands with Pakistan players before or after matches throughout the Asia Cup 2025 trilogy. This 'no handshake' trend continued in subsequent encounters between India and Pakistan in various ICC and Asian Cricket Council (ACC) tournaments, including the Asia Cup Rising Stars and the Under-19 Cricket World Cup matches. The arch-rivals have faced each other eight times in T20 World Cup history. The Men in Blue have secured seven victories, while Pakistan has won only one game. India (Playing XI): Ishan Kishan (wicketkeeper), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav (captain), Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Rinku Singh, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah. Pakistan (Playing XI): Saim Ayub, Sahibzada Farhan, Salman Agha(captain), Babar Azam, Mohammad Nawaz, Shadab Khan, Faheem Ashraf, Usman Khan(wicketkeeper), Shaheen Afridi, Abrar Ahmed, Usman Tariq. (ANI)
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