Abhishek Sharma wears Siraj’s jersey hoping for change in luck; still gets struck down by disastrous third straight duck

Abhishek Sharma's woes continue in the T20 World Cup. The left-hander was dismissed for a duck for the third time in a row.

Believe it or not, Abhishek Sharma, the World No.1 T20I batter, is yet to get off the mark in the T20 World Cup 2026 despite playing three matches. Yes, that's correct. The 25-year-old was once again dismissed for a duck, and he lasted just three balls in the middle against Namibia in the Group A match at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Wednesday. With this, Abhishek went without troubling the scores for the fifth time in T20Is this year. Earlier, in the tournament, the left-handed batter was dismissed for ducks against the USA and Pakistan.

Abhishek Sharma was dismissed for a three-ball duck against the Netherlands. (PTI)

Abhishek took the strike after Suryakumar Yadav opted to bat first in the dead rubber. After playing two dot balls, the young batter from Punjab saw his stumps being rattled by spinner Aryan Dutt. The ball was pushed through, and it skidded onto Abhishek. The batter thought the ball was short enough to play a pull shot; however, the delivery sneaked past his bat, and the stumps were rattled.

The youngster was left dejected and slowly walked back to the hut. It is worth noting that Abhishek was well aware of his troubles in the tournament and, as a result, followed a superstition. The batter came out to bat wearing Mohammed Siraj's but it was to no avail.

"Different top for change of luck," said former England captain Nasser Hussain on air.

Once Abhishek was dismissed, Hussain could not believe his eyes. “Gone, three ducks in a row. Would you believe it? The No.1 batter in this format starts 0, 0 and 0.”

Abhishek's image

Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar stated that Abhishek has developed an image as someone who can tee off from ball no.1, and hence he was looking to do the same against the Netherlands, only to see his stumps castled.

“Those two dot balls would have had added to the pressure. Once you have a reputation, once you have an image of somebody who can get off the mark with a six, that's what you want to live up to. That was what he was looking to do,” said Gavaskar.

“Very good move to start off with a spinner against Abhishek Sharma. Third duck for him," he added.

Speaking of Abhishek, he was hospitalised after the match against the USA after complaining of a high fever and stomach infection. This also led to him missing the game against Namibia at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi.

Against the USA, he was dismissed for a first-ball duck by Ali Khan, while against Pakistan, he lasted four balls and was sent back to the pavilion by Salman Ali Agha.

Speaking of the game against the Netherlands, India made two changes to its playing XI, bringing in Arshdeep Singh and Washington Sundar in the place of Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel.