Irfan Pathan lauds Shubman Gill and Abhishek Sharma amid Asia Cup 2025

Former Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan has showered praise on Shubman Gill and Abhishek Sharma for providing solid starts to the team in the ongoing Asia Cup 2025. Both the openers have adopted an aggressive approach in the continental tournament and have played an instrumental role in India’s success.

Abhishek has been in tremendous form as he has aggregated 248 runs in five matches of the Asia Cup at an average of 49.60 and a blistering strike rate of 206.67. The next best Indian batter is Shubman Gill, who has scored 111 runs in the tournament.

Pathan noted that India’s opening stand has been praiseworthy but he is not sure if they listen to each other’s suggestions while batting in the middle.

“Abhishek and Shubman, their combination that has gotten set is praiseworthy because you need a batter who complements you at the other end. You repeatedly hear them when they speak, stitch a partnership, and explain things to each other, asking for a single to be taken after a four is hit,” Irfan Pathan said on Sony Sports.

“It’s a different thing that they don’t listen because it happened yesterday (Wednesday) as well. Shubman told Abhishek that 15 runs had come in the over and asked him to play the last ball carefully. He said yes, but hit the last ball for a six. So they try to explain things to each other, but this combination is amazing,” he added.

On the other hand, former Indian wicket-keeper bat Saba Karim highlighted that Gill and Sharma have been complementing each other while batting together.

“Both keep helping each other always in the game plan as well. While batting, you need to keep feeding off of each other. You would have seen many times Abhishek Sharma rotating the strike and telling Shubman Gill what the bowler is doing, the variations they are employing,” he said.

“From all these things, it’s clearly evident that both of them like batting together. Both are extremely clinical in their approach. It’s not like you will see only Abhishek playing big shots every time. In the last match, Shubman started scoring runs quickly in the initial phase. Destroying the opposition bowlers is becoming a sort of habit for them,” Saba observed.

India will take on Sri Lanka at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai on Friday