“ Come to us, without any reason ” – Abhishek Sharma in combat with Shaheen Afridi & Haris RAUF

After the whole handshake debacle, Pakistan looked like a team possessed. Aided by some poor fielding, the Men in Green had raced to 91/1 in 10 overs. But the hot air ballon fizzled out afterwards. Despite losing just 4 wickets, Pakistan ended up scoring just 171.

For the ultra-talent Indian batting lineup, the chase wasn’t going to be a tough gig. Abhishek Sharma started things off with a six after hurled abuses at Shaheen Afridi afterwards. This pattern continued until the powerplay. Shaheen and Haris Rauf had seemingly decided to take on Abhishek and Shubman Gill for no reason.

The Punjab boys didn’t hold back. They stood tall, figuratively and literally. They have erased 55 runs by the end of the powerplay itself. By then, the four of them got into several verbal altercations. Gill recreated the famous Aamer Sohail vs Venkatesh Pradesh moment from the 1996 World Cup, but he came out on top unlike Sohail.

After the India vs Pakistan match, Abhishek who top-scored with 74, revealed that Pakistani players charged at Gill and him for no reason which motivated him.

Today was pretty simple; the way they were coming out at us without any reason, I did not like it at all. That’s why I went after them. I wanted to deliver for the team. We have been playing since our school days; we enjoy each other’s company. We thought we would do it, and today was the day. The way he was giving it back, I really enjoyed it. If you see someone playing like this, that’s the intent I show, and I’m practicing really hard, and if it’s my day, I’m going to win it for my team,” Abhishek told Urooj Mumtaz in the post-match interview.