On Tuesday, the IPL 2024 Qualifier 1 will be held at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Kolkata Knight Riders. Aakash Chopra, a former Indian cricketer and cricket analyst, however highlighted that Abhishek Sharma was an important factor in SRH’s batting order ahead of the high-stakes match.
Team SRH captained by Pat Cummins ended second in the league standings with 17 points from 14 games leaving behind Rajasthan Royals on net run rate to qualify for Qualifier 1.
In a video on his YouTube channel, Mr. Chopra commended Abhishek Sharma for his consistency and predicted that he has a bright future ahead of him. “The rising star is Abhishek Sharma does not care what happens at other end also when they lost first ball wicket against Punjab just like last game (Chopra).” Commented chopra.
Chopra stressed that Sharma’s ability to handle spin would be critical in this forthcoming match.
“I think Abhishek Sharma will open for India on Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka tours. And because you get Sunil Narine and Varun Chakaravarthy in the opposition, Spin might come early due to Travis Head. So you will have to bring an Indian batter who can take spin – that’s abishekh sharma.”
This season, Abhishek Sharma has been one of the top performers for SRH with 467 runs scored at a staggering strike rate of 209.41 off only 13 innings placing him as their second highest run scorer after Travis Head with a total of533 runs.”
Chopra noted some other key contributors among the batters in SRH.
“He loves pitches like this one,” says Chopra about Travis Head who scored many runs here during the World Cup final where we were badly defeated by them; bowlers try bowling into his body to get him out but he is explosive. Nitish Reddy has been in very good form. So he is playing well. The No. 3 batsman though appearing to be a weak link played well in the match yesterday.”
For Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) who will be meeting Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), their top order, especially Abhishek Sharma, holds the key to determining the outcome of this encounter.
