IPL 2026: Abhishek Struggles, Matches Rohit and Samson’s Record Woes

Mo. Basuony

Published: April 5, 2026 7:34 AM ET

IPL 2026: Abhishek Struggles, Matches Rohit and Samson’s Record Woes

Hyderabad, April 5, 2026. Sunrisers Hyderabad opener Abhishek Sharma fell for a two-ball duck to Mohammed Shami. It was his sixth T20 duck of 2026, matching Rohit Sharma’s 2018 total and Sanju Samson’s 2024 tally.

Match context

The game was match 10 of IPL 2026 at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium. Lucknow Super Giants elected to bowl first.

LSG made one change to their XI, bringing in Manimaran Siddharth for Anrich Nortje. SRH named Ishan Kishan as stand-in captain and added Harshal Patel and Liam Livingstone.

Playing XIs

Lucknow Super Giants: Mitchell Marsh, Rishabh Pant (w/c), Aiden Markram, Nicholas Pooran, Abdul Samad, Mukul Choudhary, Manimaran Siddharth, Avesh Khan, Mohammed Shami, Digvesh Singh Rathi, Prince Yadav.
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan (w/c), Heinrich Klaasen, Liam Livingstone, Aniket Verma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harsh Dubey, Shivang Kumar, Harshal Patel, Jaydev Unadkat.

Impact substitutes

SRH: Eshan Malinga, Salil Arora, David Payne, Shivam Mavi, Zeeshan Ansari.
LSG: Ayush Badoni, Matthew Breetzke, Shahbaz Ahmed, Anrich Nortje, Himmat Singh.

Abhishek’s recent form

Abhishek has struggled for runs early in IPL 2026. He has 55 runs from three innings, with 48 coming against KKR.

Across the T20 World Cup he managed 141 runs in eight innings. His tournament average was 17.62, with a strike rate above 158 and two half-centuries, one scored in the final.

Season and year numbers

This year he has 378 runs in 16 T20 innings. His average stands at 25.20, with a strike rate over 195, four fifties and a best of 84.

The sequence of low scores and ducks has prompted coverage under the tag “Abhishek Struggles”. His sixth duck this year Matches Rohit and Samson’s Record Woes, an unwanted statistical tie.