New Delhi: There was excitement at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad. Abhishek Sharma They fell for a golden duck against Rajasthan Royals.Known for his aggressive opening, Abhishek was dismissed by the Royals fast bowler on the very first ball of the match. Jofra Archer. Opening with Travis Head, he charged down the track to attack but only managed a thick top edge. Ravi Bishnoi makes no mistake in the deep, completes a straight catch.A clearly frustrated Abhishek hit his gloves with the bat as he walked back, clearly frustrated at falling for no runs.It was his seventh duck in 18 T20 innings in 2026 – the most by any player that year, with Cooper Connolly next on the list with four in 17 innings.Among the Sunrisers Hyderabad batsmen, only Shikhar Dhawan had earlier been dismissed for a first-ball wicket in an IPL match – against Chennai Super Kings in the 2018 Qualifier 1. Abhishek has now joined this unwanted list.Earlier, Rajasthan Royals captain Ryan Prag won the toss and elected to bowl. Royals rested Shimron Hetmyer and Brijesh Sharma, bringing in Luan Dre Pretorius and Tushar Deshpande. Sunrisers Hyderabad included Praful Hinge in their XI, while Harshal Patel was included as an impact substitute.Teams:Sunrisers Hyderabad: Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Ishan Kishan (C&W), Henrik Klaasen, Salil Arora, Aniket Verma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harsh Dubey, Shivang Kumar, Ishan Malinga, Praful Hinge.Rajasthan Royals: Yashwi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jorrell (wk), Ryan Parag (c), Lhuan-dre Pretorius, Donovan Ferreira, Ravindra Jadeja, Jofra Archer, Nandre Burger, Sandeep Sharma, Ravi Bishnoi, Tushar Deshpande.
