Former Australia captain Aaron Finch has advised India against rushing Abhishek Sharma back into the playing eleven for their high-voltage ICC Men’s T20 World Cup clash against the Pakistan national cricket team, stressing the importance of managing the opener’s fitness with a long-term view.
Abhishek was hospitalized in Delhi for treatment for what was reported to be a stomach bug. According to his teammate Tilak Varma, who spoke to the press on the eve of the match against the Namibian national cricket team, the opening match was dropped on 11 February. However, Abhishek did not take part in India’s training sessions at the Arun Jaitley Stadium and ended up missing the match, with Sanju Samson coming in as his replacement.
Responding to a query from India Today during a media interaction, Finch said that India have a deep enough squad to cope with Abhishek’s absence and should avoid taking unnecessary risks so early in the tournament.
“No, they’re quite stacked, there’s no doubt about that. Sanju at the top – he got a flyer last night along with Ishan. As big as the game is, I think India would have their eyes on the Super 8s, the semis and the final. So for me, if Abhishek is still under the weather and you don’t want to understand it, you can’t take a chance, but you can’t take a chance at this first stage because it’s not for sure you can lose it,” Finch said.
Finch emphasized that while the India-Pakistan match is of immense importance, the wider aim should be to ensure that key players are fully fit for the later stages of the competition.
“Abhishek should be fit and healthy for the business end of the tournament”
“And he’s the most damaging player in world cricket, so you want him to be fit and firing. And if that means he has to take a few extra days’ rest, then I think that’s something you’d be absolutely prepared to do, no matter how big the India v Pakistan game is on paper. You want your best players to be fit and healthy when the business end of the tournament comes,” he added.
Providing an update on Abhishek’s fitness ahead of the all-important clash in Pakistan, Suryakumar Yadav said the star batsman is likely to miss one or two matches. If he fails to regain match fitness in time for the match, Abhishek will have big shoes to fill as he is the second-highest run-scorer in the format among full members since his debut in July 2024.
In his absence, the onus will once again fall on Samson’s shoulders to give India a flying start, despite the batsman enduring a lean run at the wicket since 2025.
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Issued by:
Rishabh Beniwal
Published on:
February 13, 2026