Abhishek Sharma joins Virat Kohli as he becomes second cricketer in history to achieve this unwanted feat

Young India batter Abhishek Sharma achieved an unwanted feat to his name in the T20I cricket. He joined Virat Kohli in a unique list after he was demoted down the order in the ongoing third T20I against the Zimbabwe National Cricket Team at the Harare Sports Club in Harare.

Abhishek Sharma became only the second player in T20I history (full member) to be demoted immediately after scoring a century as an opener. The batter in the ongoing game against Zimbabwe was demoted to No.3, having opened the innings in the second game of the series.

Abhishek Sharma was asked to open the innings in the second game and he produced a magnificent effort with the bat. The opening batter continued similarly as he did in the Indian Premier League and outplayed the opposition in the first innings itself.

Abhishek Sharma ended with an innings of 100 runs off 47 balls. He batted with a strike rate of over 212 and also hit 7 fours and 8 sixes in his innings. This was his second international game and he made sure that he made an immediate impact in the second game of his career.

In the very next innings, Abhishek Sharma was demoted in the batting order. With the kind of batting that he displayed in the last game, it was expected that he would be allowed to open the innings alongside Yashasvi Jaiswal but that wasn't the case in the ongoing game.

Captain Shubman Gill came out to open the innings alongside Yashasvi Jaiswal and Abhishek Sharma was asked to bat at No.3. The Southpaw couldn't make a bigger impact with the bat as he scored just 10 runs as batting out of the position didn't go well with the young batter.

Virat Kohli is the other batter to be demoted down the order after scoring a century. The batter slammed an unbeaten 122 runs while opening against Afghanistan during the Asia Cup 2022. But after that, he was demoted to No.3 and it didn't work well as he managed just 2 runs.

Players to be demoted after scoring a T20I ton as opener (full member teams)

Virat Kohli in 2022 (122* vs AFG as opener, demoted to No.3 next inns where he scored 2)

Abhishek Sharma in 2024 (100 vs ZIM as opener, demoted to No.3 next inns where he scored 10)

It was really nice, I was really enjoying it - Yashasvi Jaiswal after his innings

Yashasvi Jaiswal, who returned to the team after winning the T20 World Cup 2024, played a vital innings of 36 runs off 27 balls. He talked about his innings and said that he enjoyed batting in the middle. He also revealed that he will be bowling in the game. He stated:

"It was really nice, I was really enjoying it. The wicket is quite double-paced and I think we managed well. We have played well, we had good partnerships, it’s a really nice total on this surface.

"We all are champions and it’s always a pleasure whenever I go back to the ground. It was incredible in Mumbai and the celebrations were incredible. (On his bowling) I'm trying my best in bowling and hopefully, I will bowl."