Former India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has named Abhishek Sharma as the men's team player of the year for 2025. Ashwin lauded Sharma for reimagining India's powerplay batting and becoming the country's next batting superstar. Sharma was India's top T20I run-scorer in 2025 with 1602 runs at an average of 41.07 and a strike rate of 202.01. Ashwin also expressed a desire to see Sharma included in the ODI setup.