Ravichandran Ashwin was left thoroughly impressed by Abhishek Sharma’s fearless batting display against Pakistan in the Asia Cup 2025 Super Four clash in Dubai. The veteran off-spinner drew a fascinating comparison between Abhishek’s stroke play and former India captain MS Dhoni’s iconic helicopter shot, labelling one particular stroke as a “helicopter cover drive.”
The moment arrived in the eighth over when Saim Ayub floated a full delivery outside off. Abhishek shuffled across, opened his stance, and with a single fluid swing of the bat, whipped the ball over extra cover for a boundary. For Ashwin, the shot embodied Dhoni’s helicopter style, but with a rare inside-out finesse.
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“Abhishek Sharma played an inside-out helicopter cover drive like MS Dhoni. Everyone will talk about his five sixes, but that cover drive had unbelievable finesse,” Ravichandran Ashwin explained on his YouTube channel. “He has just one downswing, yet the way he adapts it makes batting look ridiculously simple. That’s why you want to watch him every day.”
Abhishek’s 74 off 39 balls, laced with six fours and five towering sixes, formed the backbone of India’s chase of 172. His 105-run opening stand with Shubman Gill (47 off 28) completely deflated Pakistan’s new-ball attack of Shaheen Afridi and Haris Rauf. Earlier, Shivam Dube’s twin strikes had pegged back Pakistan, but it was Abhishek’s counter-attack that sealed India’s dominance.
So far in the Asia Cup, Abhishek has been India’s standout performer, amassing 173 runs at a blistering strike rate of 208.43. Ashwin believes this is just the start of something special.
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“This isn’t the arrival of Abhishek Sharma; this is only the beginning,” Ravichandran Ashwin said. “He has the potential to be India’s next marquee white-ball batter, just like Yuvraj Singh once was. Take it in writing—Abhishek will take world cricket by storm.”
