R Ashwin Hits Back At Mohammad Amir's 'Slogger' Tag For Abhishek Sharma, Namedrops Yuvraj Singh

Former Indian cricket team spinner R Ashwin did not agree with ex-Pakistan star Mohammad Amir's 'slogger' tag for Abhishek Sharma. Following Abhishek's hat-trick of ducks in the T20 World Cup group stage, Amir said that the youngster has no defensive gear in his batting and called him "just a slogger". However, Abhishek found his form during the Super 8 match against Zimbabwe as he slammed 55 off just 30 balls. Ashwin was all praise for Abhishek and even hit back at Amir's comments by saying that in his opinion, Abhishek has a better bat swing than his mentor Yuvraj Singh.

“There is a video of Mohammad Amir doing the rounds, where he called Abhishek Sharma a slogger. I just want to make one thing clear: you can say anything about his game, but he is not a slogger. He has one of the most enviable bat swings in the game today. We all know Yuvraj Singh is his mentor,” said Ashwin on his YouTube channel ‘Ash Ki Baat'.

“He has probably got a better bat swing than him as well. You cannot get a better bat swing than that. Whenever Abhishek strikes the ball, it goes very far. So people can mistake him for being a slogger. The one thing Abhishek has been guilty of is showing intent on every ball,” he added.

Meanwhile, Sunil Gavaskar said he was surprised to see Abhishek Sharma play a defensive stroke, praising the explosive opener for silencing his critics with a timely half-century against Zimbabwe.

Since returning from a stomach bug, Abhishek looked a distant shadow of his dominating self, registering three ducks in a row.

However, on Thursday, Abhishek snapped the lean patch, scoring a 30-ball 55 in India's 72-run win over Zimbabwe to signal a return to form.

"We know how good Abhishek Sharma is as a batter. He silenced his doubters with this knock of 55 runs against Zimbabwe,” Gavaskar told JioStar.

“He took that extra time to start his innings. There was a method to his batting. He respected the off spinner, didn't take any kind of risks and played in a calm and a composed manner.” “In this game, he actually played a defensive shot. He defended the ball. I was surprised to see that because we don't usually see Abhishek do that,” Gavaskar added.

(With agency inputs)

Topics mentioned in this article

India Cricket Team Zimbabwe Cricket Team Abhishek Sharma Yuvraj Singh Mohammad Amir Ravichandran Ashwin T20 World Cup 2026 Cricket