“Abhishek Sharma will play if Pakistan wants”: Suryakumar Yadav

India will include Abhishek Sharma in their playing XI for the February 15 match against Pakistan in Colombo. He was ruled out of the previous game against Namibia after failing to recover from illness. India captain Suryakumar Yadav gave a strong hint on Abhishek’s availability for the marquee clash on a spin-friendly track.

The left-handed batter played the campaign opener against the USA despite being under the weather but his condition got worse in Delhi and the opener was admitted to the hospital.

Abhishek has lost two kilos but is now recovering well ahead of the most-awaited contest of the ongoing global tournament.

Pakistan skipper Salman Ali Agha is looking forward to taking on Abhishek Sharma.

“Abhishek is a good player and I hope he plays the game because we want to compete against India’s strongest XI. I hope he recovers well,” Agha said.

When reporters informed Suryakumar about Salman’s statement, he made a cheeky remark.

“Abhishek Sharma will play if Pakistan wants,’ he said.

Abhishek will replace Sanju Samson, who was added to the playing group after the young batter was unable to play the first game at the Wankhede Stadium.

If Abhishek takes the field, it would give more firepower to the defending champions. He has been unstoppable in the shortest format of the game and has accumulated over 1200 runs, laced with two hundreds.