Abhishek Sharma labelled as ‘IPL bully’ after another flop show vs South Africa

Abhishek Sharma continued to live up to the expectations and failed with the bat again in the second T20I against South Africa at St George’s Park, Gqeberha. South Africa paceman Gerald Coetzee dismissed the opening batter for just four on Sunday. He opened his account with a fine boundary on the first ball but just failed to get going and was dismissed on the fifth ball of the second over. The left-handed batter attempted an aerial shot but only managed to edge it into the air and got caught by Marco Jansen at fine leg.
The 24-year-old has not been able to touch the double-digit mark in his last three innings as the time has started to run out for him.
The fans on social media were miffed with Abhishek’s poor run in the shortest format.
The left-handed batter didn’t show consistency with the bat, failing to get past the 20-run mark only once in the nine innings he batted. Apart from his memorable 47-ball century against Zimbabwe in Harare earlier this year, Sharma has struggled for runs with scores of 0, 10, 14, 16, 15, 4, 7 and 4 in recent outings.
Meanwhile, Abhishek recently hit the jackpot in IPL 2025 retention with an INR 14-crore contract with Sunrisers Hyderabad ahead of the mega auction. The left-handed batter was one of the key players for SRH last season in their journey to the final. He smashed 484 runs in 16 matches at a staggering strike rate of 204.22.
Earlier, South Africa skipper Aiden Markram won the toss and opted to bowl against India in the second T20I.
India decided to go with the same playing eleven from the first match to continue the winning combination, while South Africa made one change, bringing in Reeza Hendricks in place of Patrick Kruger.
India skipper Suryakumar Yadav asserted that he was happy to bat first here as he wants to continue the same brand of cricket which they have been playing for the past year.
“We wanted to bat first and play same brand of cricket, happy with the things in the last match. You always learn something or the other in every game. We want to continue the good habits. No changes, playing with the same XI,” Surya said at the toss.