Former Indian player Kris Srikkanth believes young India opener Abhishek Sharma should ideally have been dropped for the first T20I against Afghanistan in Delhi on September 13. He entered the match after a series of low scores in his previous six T20I matches. Abhishek had scored only 40 runs in his last six innings before the first match against Afghanistan at a poor average of 6.66.

Talking about Abhishek Sharma after the match, Srikkanth said on his YouTube channel: “Abhishek Sharma actually shouldn’t have played this game on form. But he smashed Afghanistan yesterday and batted brilliantly. Though he didn’t score in the previous six innings, everyone will remember only this 82 and forget the rest.”

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Kris Srikkanth applauded wicketkeeper-batter Ishan Kishan for his heroics in the Duleep Trophy 2026 final against South Zone, where he led East Zone to the title as well. He led from the front with a match-winning 270 in the first innings, followed by an 80 in the second as well.

“He (Kishan) has been unbelievable, coming from domestic cricket. He is smashing a 270 in the Duleep Trophy final, which is brilliant. Now he is surely a strong contender for the Test team. He is scoring so much that he has to be in the reckoning for the Indian Test squad. He is scoring in every format and has to be in the mix of things in Test cricket,” concluded Kris Srikkanth.