IND vs SA: Abhishek Sharma on the verge of surpassing Sanju Samson in Humbling Record

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Abhishek Sharma's poor form in the T20Is has reached a concerning peak, with five ducks in his last seven innings, including all three group-stage matches at the ICC T20 World Cup 2026.

India faces South Africa in Super Eight Match 3 today in Ahmedabad, where Abhishek's spot remains under scrutiny despite his world No. 1 T20I batter ranking.

He has faced just eight balls across the tournament without scoring a run, dismissed early by Ali Khan (USA), Salman Agha (Pakistan), and Aryan Dutt (Netherlands). Despite the failures, Abhishek vows no changes to his aggressive approach ahead of this must-win clash.

Ahead of that, Sharma scored a couple of ducks against the Kiwis in this calendar year. His ducks include two against New Zealand earlier this year and the hat-trick in the World Cup, equaling records held by Ashish Nehra and others for consecutive World Cup failures. Remarkably, Abhishek went 21 T20I innings without a duck before 2026's slump.

Despite Abhishek's lack of runs, India captain Suryakumar Yadav has openly supported the southpaw, saying that they have the youngster covered. Ahead of the match against South Africa, Surya dismissed concerns over Abhishek's form and made a sarcastic comment towards the journalists.

"About Abhishek's form, I worry for the people who are worried about Abhishek's form. I worry about them. Why are they so worried about Abhishek's form?" Surya said.

"Last year, Abhishek covered for all of us. Now it is our duty to cover for him," the India captain added.

Abhishek Sharma on the verge to create Embarrassing Record

This unwanted streak ties him with Sanju Samson for the most ducks by an Indian batter in a single calendar year. Sanju scored five ducks in T20Is across the year in 2025, but Abhishek is in a deeper hole with five ducks already in the second month of 2026.

Samson is also part of the T20 World Cup squad but lost his place in the playing 11 after his dismal run against New Zealand. In the T20 World Cup, the Kerala batter played one match against Namibia in the absence of Abhishek, and scored 22 runs off 8 balls.