Australia legend Ricky Ponting has predicted that India’s dashing opener Abhishek Sharma can be the highest run-getter in the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup 2026.
In an edition of The ICC Review, the former Australia batter said: “He (Abhishek) is a star. I think it’s (lack of experience) a real positive, to be honest. He can be the leading run-scorer and potentially the Player of the Tournament. That’s how good I think he is. And if he does, that makes India even harder to beat. If he doesn’t, then they’re as vulnerable as anybody else. So that’s how important I think he is to this (T20) World Cup for India.”
Abhishek has been in dream form since last year. In the recently finished T20I series against New Zealand, he became the third-highest run-getter, scoring 182 runs from five matches at an average of 45.50, which included two fifties.
In 2025, the 25-year-old played 21 T20Is, scoring 859 runs at an average of 42.95 at a strike rate of 193.46. His tally included one century and five fifties.
Ponting also added that he understood Abhishek’s talent much before he rose to prominence in international cricket.
“I was his first IPL coach. He debuted with me, I think as a 17-year-old at Delhi, and made an immediate impact. I think he hit his first ball for four or six straight back over the bowler’s head with that classical sort of straight bat and held the pose. And you could just see then, as a 17-year-old, that there was something extra special,” he said.
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