CHENNAI: The legendary Wasim Akram, during a chat with a few journalists in September last year, had said that Abhishek Sharma was one batsman who would have given him a tough time. At that point, Abhishek was belting good bowlers for fun. In the leadup to the T20 World Cup, it was the incredible firepower of Abhishek and Ishan Kishan that made India big favourites.
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Two-and-a-half weeks into the tournament, it’s the lacklustre performance of the same opening pair that has left the defending champions in a tricky position. The opening pair’s average is a dismal 6.8, the lowest in the tournament. Above them is already-eliminated Oman, who averaged 10.
And this entire debacle is centred around the poor form of Abhishek. After three consecutive ducks, he scored a 12-ball 15 in Ahmedabad but it wasn’t a fluent knock as he struggled against the South African attack. The young batter, though, had a long batting session on Tuesday evening and batting coach Sitanshu Kotak feels “he is just one good hit away”.
“His health had taken a beating before the tournament. After that, he didn’t have much momentum.
I don’t think it makes any sense over-thinking about one individual and he will bounce back,” Kotak said on Wednesday.
It’s an open secret now that India’s openers — both lefthanders — have struggled against the off-spinners. While Abhishek got out to Salman Ali Agha and Aryan Dutt, Ishan Kishan gave his wicket away to Aiden Markram on Sunday. That’s not all. The middle order, too, has struggled to get going against off-spin, having faced 102 balls of off-spin and scoring at a rate of only 6.23 per over.
“We know Zimbabwe will try to exploit that and we are working on it,” Kotak said. Steps to that direction were taken when five Tamil Nadu age-group off-spinners were called in the nets on Tuesday evening as Abhishek and Co. looked to take them apart. But the problem doesn’t end with Abhishek. Tilak Varma, too, hasn’t been at his best.
Batting at No. 3, Tilak has managed only 107, but what’s disappointing is the strike-rate of 118.9, way lower than his career strike rate of 141.8. Tilak has struggled to rotate strike and that has sometimes led to rash shots. The southpaw had a very long session on Tuesday night and on Wednesday too, he was back for some more knocking at the nets.
Kotak felt that Tilak batting at run-a-ball shouldn’t be seen out of context. “It is a matter of two boundaries and a 26-ball 28 can become a 28-ball 38. He is under no instruction to play run-a-ball cricket, he is just playing the situation, as was the case in Colombo (against Pakistan), where it was about partnerships,” Kotak said.
But then, he acknowledged that Sanju Samson is also in the mix for selection, which tells a lot about the struggles of the top order. For now, all that the batting coach is hoping for is “Abhishek hitting a few balls at the start of his innings” with Tilak and Surya carrying on the momentum. “We came here on top from the bilaterals but a couple of dismissals had changed things a little. But I am confident we will be fine,” Kotak said.
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