Abhishek Sharma (Image credit: X) NEW DELHI: There was a stunned silence at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad as Abhishek Sharma fell for a golden duck against Rajasthan Royals.Known for his aggressive starts, Abhishek was dismissed on the very first ball of the Royals match by pacer Jofra Archer. He opened up alongside Travis Head and charged down the track in an attempt to attack but only managed a thick top edge. Ravi Bishnoi made no mistake in the deep and completed a straight catch.
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Prasidh Krishna on GT’s bowling performance A visibly frustrated Abhishek hit the bat with his gloves as he walked back, clearly disappointed to have gone down without scoring.It was his seventh duck in 18 T20 innings in 2026 – the most by any player that year, with Cooper Connolly next on the list with four in 17 innings.Among the Sunrisers Hyderabad batsmen, only Shikhar Dhawan was previously dismissed on the first ball of an IPL match – against Chennai Super Kings in Qualifier 1 2018. Abhishek has now joined this unwanted list.Earlier, Rajasthan Royals captain Riyan Parag won the toss and opted to bowl. Royals rested Shimron Hetmyer and Brijesh Sharma, brought in Lhuan-dre Pretorius and Tushar Deshpande. Sunrisers Hyderabad included Praful Hinge in their playing XI while Harshal Patel was named among the impact substitutes.teams:Sunrisers Hyderabad: Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Ishan Kishan (c&wk), Heinrich Klaasen, Salil Arora, Aniket Verma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harsh Dubey, Shivang Kumar, Eshan Malinga, Praful Hinge.Rajasthan Royals: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Riyan Parag (c), Lhuan-dre Pretorius, Donovan Ferreira, Ravindra Jadeja, Jofra Archer, Nandre Burger, Sandeep Sharma, Ravi Bishnoi, Tushar Deshpande.
