Chakravyuh of zero… The most shameful record of T20 cricket has been registered in the name of world number-1 batsman Abhishek Sharma.

New Delhi. It was Sunday. The Civil Service Cricket Club ground in Belfast was packed with Indian cricket fans. The second T20 International match was being played between India and Ireland. When the world number one T20 batsman Abhishek Sharma came to the crease to open, everyone expected that this great batsman, who scored a brilliant 49 runs in the first match, would rain runs again today. But cricket is a game of uncertainties, and sometimes the game becomes extremely cruel. A ball came from Ireland’s Jai Mundra, and this star batsman from Amritsar got out on the very first ball without opening his account and returned to the pavilion.

It was not just being out for zero in a match, but with this one wicket, Abhishek Sharma got an unwanted record in the history of cricket, which no batsman would ever want to keep in his name. This wicket became a witness to how a batsman can come from the throne to the floor in a single calendar year. This zero in Belfast was Abhishek Sharma’s ninth duck overall in the year 2026. In this one calendar year, Abhishek has been out a total of 9 times without opening the account, including all T20 matches at domestic and international level. With this shameful figure, he equaled a very strange record of world cricket.

Now Abhishek Sharma has topped the list of select players in the world who have been out on zero the most number of times in a calendar year. Before this, only Afghanistan’s charismatic spinner Rashid Khan and Pakistan’s all-rounder Shadab Khan have faced the brunt of being out on zero 9 times in a year. Rashid Khan faced zero 9 times in 56 matches while playing for different teams (like Adelaide Strikers, Sunrisers Hyderabad, Sussex etc.) in the year 2019. At the same time, Shadab Khan had scored 9 times in 42 matches while playing for teams like Colombo Strikers and Islamabad United in the year 2024. But Abhishek Sharma touched the zero mark 9 times in less matches than these two, i.e. within just 30 matches, which shows his aggressive but risky batting style.

When giants were left behind in the list of records
In the history of cricket, there is a long line of greats who were out on zero 8 times in a year. Former explosive opener of South Africa Herschelle Gibbs was out on zero 8 times in 33 matches in the year 2009. Sunil Narine of West Indies returned 8 times in 64 matches in the year 2017 without opening the account. Rashid Khan’s name appears repeatedly in this list, he was out on zero 8-8 times in 53 matches in 2021 and also in 66 matches in 2022. Apart from these, Alex Hales of England (42 matches in 2023), Richard Ngarawa of Zimbabwe (28 matches in 2024), Sherfane Rutherford of West Indies (75 matches in 2025) and Saim Ayub of Pakistan (41 matches in 2025) have also suffered the pain of being out on zero 8 times in a year. But Abhishek left all these giants behind and directly captured the number one position.

Mixed ‘zero’ of international platform and IPL
If we look closely at Abhishek Sharma’s journey this year, his 9 zeros are divided into two parts. So far in the year 2026, he has played 15 T20 International matches for the Indian team, and the surprising thing is that out of these 15 innings, he could not even open the account 6 times. On the other hand, while playing for Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL this year, his bat failed him thrice and he was out on zero. 3 IPL ducks and 6 international ducks together wrote the script of their this year’s ‘ninth zero’.

New record for India and threshold of world record
Talking about T20 International cricket, Abhishek has become the first Indian player to be out on zero 6 times in a calendar year. No batsman in the history of India has faced so many ducks in a year. Now Abhishek Sharma is standing on the threshold of another big world record. The world record for being out on zero for the most number of times in a calendar year in T20 International cricket is in the name of Pakistan’s Saim Ayub, who was out on zero 7 times in 29 matches in the year 2025. Apart from Saim Ayub, two unknown batsmen of Rwanda have also faced zero 7-7 times in a year. Abhishek Sharma is currently just one step behind him with 6 ducks. The year 2026 is only half over, and India still has many T20 matches to play. In such a situation, Abhishek’s fans will pray that his bat will now yield runs and not take him closer to this unwanted world record.