Young India opener Abhishek Sharma was at his best in second T20I against Zimbabwe, smashing his maiden T20I century in just his second appearance for the team. After beind dismissed for a duck in the series-opener, Abhishek showed his true colours with the bat by replicating his IPL 2024 form on Sunday. The 24-year-old went berserk right from the get-go and opened his account with a towering maximum over deep backward square leg. He ended up scoring 100 off just 47 balls with the help of seven fours and a whopping eight maximums.

In spite of his explosive knock, former Zimbabwe batter Andy Flower has warned Abhishek that his place in the team might not be a certainity, with the current RCB head coach pointing out that Yashasvi Jaiswal is set to join the team for the remaining matches.

“Well, we have got Jaiswal still coming into the series, haven’t we? So that sort of competition is exactly what the Indian selectors and all the Indian followers are looking for. It makes it really interesting and it’s great for the Indian game if they have got lots of options like that,” Flower said on Sony Sports.

Nonetheless, Flower praised Abhishek for making the most of the opportunity rewarded to him by the selectors.

“He should be confident at the moment coming off such a great IPL and then getting a hundred in his second international match. So what a great start. It’s really important to get those runs as a young player because confidence and self-belief are so important to your chance of doing well. So I am very happy for him and I am looking forward to seeing more of him in this series,” he added.

Meanwhile, Jaiswal, Sanju Samson and Shivam Dube will join the team for the three remaining matches. The trio was part of India’s T20 World Cup-winning contingent which landed in India last week to celebrate the success with the fans.

After levelling the series 1-1, India will play Zimbabwe in the third T20I at Harare Sports Club on Wednesday.

(With ANI Inputs)