Watch: Abhishek Sharma out for golden duck as India vs Japan T20I reduced to 5 overs

Fresh from a strong three-match T20I series against Afghanistan at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi, when Abhishek Sharma celebrated a fiery century in the third game to break several records, the attention was on him to continue the superb work during the one-off T20I against Japan.  

However, it didn’t go as planned, as the batter was dismissed for a golden duck. The game was delayed by three hours due to the wet outfield. However, the home ground staff at the Sano International Cricket Ground in Kanto, Japan, did a superb job of drying out the outfield. 

Abhishek Sharma nicks first ball to short fine leg, Japan's Charlie Hara-Hinze strikes in historic T20I

It was the sixth final delivery of the opening over of the innings after India’s captain, Shreyas Iyer, won the toss and decided to bat first on a surface, which was new and unfamiliar to the entire Indian side, having not got any practice due to rain the previous day.

Watch Abhishek Sharma's dismissal here- 

The spinner, Charlie Hara-Hinze, fired the ball on the leg stump of Abhishek, who tried to help it along and got a top-edge as the ball ballooned over the short fine region with a top edge. The fielder, Shoma Sugaya, grabbed a fine catch to dismiss the batter for a golden duck.

See Also: Watch: Abhishek Sharma's special 'Om namah Shivaya' celebration after smashing fastest T20I century by an Indian in IND vs AFG 3rd T20I

It was the fifth first-ball duck for Abhishek in the year 2026, which is the joint-most by a batter in a calendar year in the T20Is along with Kevin Irakoze of Rwanda in 2023 and Richard Ngarava in 2024.

How India fared after losing Abhishek Sharma early in the rain-shortened 5-over contest vs Japan

India continued to lose wickets continuously as Ishan Kishan was also dismissed for three runs off six balls as he gave a simple catch to Makoto Taniyama. Their captain, who smashed just one boundary in the innings, was dismissed for 16 runs off 12 balls as the Blue Brigade was restricted to 32 runs for the loss of four wickets in their allotted five overs.

Japan, in the chase, lost their opener for one run off four balls before they saw another batter dismissed for four runs. The Indian bowlers made it incredibly tough in the chase for the home batters.

See Also: Top 5 fastest T20I centuries among Test-playing nations ft. Abhishek Sharma

Brief Scores: Japan 8/2 (Ibrahim Takahashi 4, Washington Sundar 1/6) vs India 32/4 (Shreyas Iyer 16, Charlie Hinze 2/17)