Abhishek Sharma needs to buck up!

Ahmedabad: Abhishek Sharma is in a plight. The left-hander, so much used to belt the ball in the first six-over powerplay and carry the bellicose vein forward, has faced a mere eight balls in the ongoing ICC Men's T20 World Cup and scored zilch in the three outings against USA, Pakistan and the Netherlands.

For someone who has scored 1297 runs with a strike rate of 11.55, ill luck has dogged the Punjab batter who since July 2024 has been the cynosure of all eyes in the shortest format. He has been bold, brave, ready to risk shots reflecting daredevilry against the top guns operating with the new ball and the old. But the last fortnight has been anything, but encouraging for him.

Falling for a third duck in the World Cup, this time to the Netherlands off-break bowler Aryan Dutt at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Motera, has confounded the layman and the discerning and his own teammates, but he is going to be given a long rope.
The argument is that he is in the team because of his outstanding displays in the matches leading to the global tournament. He hammered the rival bowling to make 859 runs off 444 balls in 2025 - his best in three international seasons for the men in blue team.
His colleagues, including skipper Suryakumar Yadav, believe that his poor run is only a passing phase and that a lean trot can happen to any batter. His inability to cope with the World Cup pressure has evoked a lot of questions. But the team's bowling coach South African Morne Morkel described the left hander as world class.

Sharma is expected to go out with another left hander, Ishan Kishan again in the first of the three Super 8 matches against South Africa at the Narendra Modi stadium here on Sunday. So far he has scored 200 runs in eight innings against South Africa; far from a spectacular record, but he has taken runs of their bowlers at 10.43 an over. He has been dismissed in the power play quite a few times, but he has struck 16x 6s and 18 x 4s. Only once has he fallen to a finger spinner in left-arm Keshav Maharaj; in other innings he has been sent back by medium pacers.

Sharma is one of those rare talents in Indian cricket who have chosen the Twenty20 pathway to hold their own and impress. He has scored 599 runs off 285 balls at home and 698 runs off 389 balls overseas. After the departure of Rohit Sharma - who went after the leather in the power play and generally right through the length of an innings, Abhishek Sharma grabbed opportunities with both hands and has carved a niche for himself.

Batting maestro Sunil Gavaskar feels that Sharma should make a conscientious effort to play straight and work his way through singles rather than play across and fall a quick victim. His early exits have not helped India to look for big returns in the first 36 balls. India scored 80 odd runs in the power play against Namibia and that was because Kishan hit 4 x 6s and 1 x 4 in the sixth over. Moreover Sharma did not play this match as he was hospitalised for an ailment.

It was a good ploy on the part of Netherlands to start with off spinner against the two left handers - Sharma and Kishan and he got rid of both inside the power play and India required the audacity of Shivam Dube and Hardik Pandya to get some big runs in the last five overs.

It would be interesting to see how Sharma and Kishan approach against South African Aiden Markram who has taken only 15 wickets in 73 matches at 39.13. Markram bowls off spin. South Africa could start with him to tempt Sharma and Kishan who have a liking to play the horizontal bat shots. Sharma has fallen victim to five off spinners, but none from South Africa.

A batter who did not care for the reputation of bowlers, Sharma is sort of passing through a crisis situation. He is yet to score a World Cup run. Is the big event getting into his nerves ? The team management would have done everything to ease them, but the left hander who likes to thunder straight away has to find ways to emerge from the quagmire he is in.

India needs a bright start from Sharma and Kishan in order to enable the middle order to capitalise on solid starts and survive the Super 8 stage and advance to the semifinals. If they are not able to put runs on the board in the power play, the others would have to bat differently from over No. 7 to 15 and look to give it a surge in the last five. All said and done, Sharma needs to fire for himself and the team.