Three nil in three matches. Abhishek Sharma’s bad phase continues. On Wednesday, 18 February, the batsman was out for a duck in three balls in the opener against the Netherlands.
Before the T20 World Cup 2026, Sharma emerged as the brightest hope for Team India. But the reality is cruel. Having played 3 matches in the tournament, he is yet to score his first run in the competition. Fans expressed their feelings through various posts on social media platforms.
Team India is playing brilliantly as a unit
With three consecutive wins, India advanced to the next round, which is the eighth round of the ongoing 2026 T20 World Cup, with one more group match to be played.
The India vs Netherlands match is actually a useless rubber match, as the future of both the teams in the tournament is clear. While India will play the next round, the Netherlands will board a flight home.
Still, no team wants to lose any match. India, co-hosts of the 2026 T20 World Cup, descended upon the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad aiming to continue their winning streak. Before facing the Netherlands, the Men in Blue successfully defeated the United States, Namibia and Pakistan.
This was the Dutch spinner’s flattery against Abhishek Sharma
On paper, the Dutch have nothing to compare with the reigning champions. Things changed suddenly when Sharma was dismissed by spinner Aryan Dutt. Dutt bowled a short, flat ball of length. The batsman went on his back foot to play the ball and ended up in a bowl.
The ball was on the stumps and skidded a bit. The left-handed batsman missed every part of the ball. The Dutch spinner hit it straight to the leg stump, which was an awkward moment for the Netherlands cricket team.
Same plan, same results
This was a planned move on the part of the orange team. During the India vs Pakistan match, Pakistan captain Salman Ali Aga, who is also a spinner, surprisingly came to bowl early in the match and successfully took the southpaw’s wicket.
Netherlands repeated the same – dismissing a Punjab-born spinner with the new ball. India lost its first wicket on the third ball of the first over with a score of zero on the scoreboard.
It’s been a tough journey for Abhishek Sharma recently, especially considering he entered this World Cup as the world’s top-ranked T20I batsman.
– Avnish Aryan (@avnisharya123) 18 February 2026
Who could have thought…Sanju Samson scored 22 runs in 7 balls in his only match and in his place Abhishek Sharma would be dismissed 3 times for zero. That’s why cricket is the great leveler
– Armchair Expert (@cricnator) 18 February 2026
Whenever Abhishek Sharma scores, Yuvraj Singh comes up with his tweets and takes a lot of credit for Abhishek’s batting.
But now there have been cases of Abhishek being out on zero thrice in this World Cup and not a single tweet has been made by Yuvraj about this, if you want the credit for his success publicly then why not share it… pic.twitter.com/gNgoNUWfgC
– Nafees (@Nafees_22) 18 February 2026
feel for abhishek sharma
3 ducks in a row– Nagarjuna (@nagarjunaa_m) 18 February 2026
Abhishek Sharma in last 7 innings
0, 68*, 0, 30, 0, 0, 0
#T20WorldCup pic.twitter.com/27gnAilmxX
– Tiwari Pranjal (@Tpranjal9) 18 February 2026
Most wickets for India in a calendar year in T20Is:
05 – Sanju Samson (2024)
05* – Abhishek Sharma (2026)Two brothers, both destruction. https://t.co/cBYtMJkbcF
– Poetry by Pratika (@RRoyal_Reaper) 18 February 2026
read more: Ishan Kishan challenges Sharma by breaking into top 10 of ICC T20I batting rankings