Former India player turned veteran commentator Aakash Chopra has applauded Abhishek Sharma for playing a stunning knock in the first T20I against England in Kolkata on Wednesday, January 22 as well. While saying that it would be too early to compare him with Rohit Sharma, he stated that the youngster is on the right path as well as he smashed 79 runs off just 34 deliveries.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel ‘Aakash Chopra,’ he said, “Abhishek Sharma – we believe in karma, we believe in Sharma. We used to say that for Rohit. It’s too early to say the same thing for Abhishek but he has done the Abhishek (made an auspicious start). I thought it was an important innings. Abhishek Sharma was under pressure because he had been playing but hadn’t scored too many runs. This team’s template is to hit fours and sixes and maximize the powerplay, but if you get out three times, they only drop you. They could have looked at Yashasvi. He could have played this series and nobody would have raised an eyebrow or batted an eyelid,” he observed.

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In the same video, Aakash Chopra also added that Abhishek Sharma managed to score his runs against a quality bowling attack as well.

“The opposing team had proper bowling – Jofra Archer, Mark Wood, Gus Atkinson and Jamie Overton. It’s a good bowling attack. In such a scenario, you had to play well to score runs. He batted really well right from the start. He flicked Mark Wood for a six, then a six over third man and a straight four. Then he batted very well against spin also. He kept hitting. He has scored a T20I century against Zimbabwe and it’s very difficult to say that a knock could be better than that. You can say that about this knock because of the context as there was a lot of pressure and the contest as the opposition bowling was very good,” Aakash Chopra concluded.