It's been a frustrating year so far by Abhishek Sharma's impeccable standards and his inconsistency was epitomised by a golden duck during Sunrisers Hyderabad's clash against Rajasthan Royals in the IPL.
In the first delivery of the match, India's star batter attempted to pummel Jofra Archer's short toss but only managed a slice, resulting in the ball looping in the air and into the clutches of Ravi Bishnoi at deep backward point.
Fortunately for Sharma, his captain Ishan Kishan was able to revive Sunrisers' innings as he scored an impressive 91 runs from 44 deliveries, while the quickfire contributions of Heinrich Klaasen (40), Nitish Kumar Reddy (28) and Salil Arora (24) ensured the hosts surpassed the 200-mark for a total score of 216.
Sharma's duck was his second in this year's Indian Premier League and his seventh in 2026 - and we're only in April.
The catalogue of no scores means Sharma now holds the record for most ducks in T20 matches across a calendar year by an Indian player, surpassing the previous figure of six which was held by Rohit Sharma (2018) and Sanju Samson (2024).
Inconsistencies have plagued Sharma's year so far. Sandwiched between his two ducks against Lucknow Super Giants and Rajasthan Royals was an impreessive 28-ball 74 against Punjab Kings, although it was not enough to secure victory as Sunrisers were beaten by six-wickets.
Sharma's unpredictability with the bat was also evident during India's T20 World Cup triumph as he mustered 141 runs in eight innings at an average of 17.62.
His opening stand of 52 was critical in India's final triumph over New Zealand, but priot to that the 25-year-old could only produce scores of nine and 10 in matches against England and West Indies respectively.
Earlier in the tournament, the world number one ranked T20I batter suffered the ignominy of three consecutive ducks against the United States, Pakistan and the Netherlands.
Prior to the World Cup, he was bowled for a duck in two of the five matches into the T20I series against New Zealand. Frustratingly, those no scores were crammed next to a superb 84 against the Black Caps in Nagpur and an impressive unbeaten 68 in Guwahati.
Sharma has continually defended his aggressive batting style, but his seventh duck in 18 T20I innings is an alarming run of form which threatens to undermine his position with the national team.
