Spinner Matthew Kuhnemann hopes Australia's bowlers will curb the fireworks from India's batting star Abhishek Sharma in the fourth T20 International at the Bill Pippen Oval, Gold Coast, on Thursday (November 6).
Abhishek has been India's driving force with the bat in the ongoing T20I series against Australia. He made 19 from 14 balls in the first game which was washed due to rain before hammering an entertaining 68 from 37 balls in India's total of 125 in the second match.
He stroked 25 from 16 balls to give India a flying start in their pursuit of 187 which they achieved in 18.3 overs to register a five-wicket victory and level the five-match series at 1-1.
The young left-hander is the highest run-getter in the series so far, with 112 runs at a strike rate of 167.16, with 14 fours and five sixes.
Abhishek is the World No 1 ranked batter in T20Is. He has been unstoppable with the bat in 2025, smashing 705 runs in 15 games, at a strike rate of 200.85, with a century and five fifties.
Kuhnemann hopes pacer Xavier Bartlett and Ben Dwarshuis can dismiss the dangerous Abhishek cheaply with the new ball.
"Yeah, it's crucial. It's such a big game now. In T20 cricket, you talk about momentum. We're trying to wrestle that back from India at the moment and hopefully win the next two games. Hopefully, it's Xavier Bartlett or one of the quicks, Benny Dwarshuis, who can take his wicket in the first couple of overs," said the Australia spinner on Tuesday.
He's (Abhishek) a serious talent, and he just goes so hard from ball one. It's going to be a great spectacle on Thursday, but hopefully those boys can get him cheaply," he added.
According to Kuhnemann, with India and Australia adopting a similar brand of cricket, the middle overs will be crucial for both teams.
"Yeah, I think the way they're playing is sort of similar to how we're playing as well. They're very explosive, I think, from ball one now. The game's changing rapidly, and you can sort of tell the players a lot. Players like how Timmy David went about it and just go hard from ball one, like I said. Yeah, I think taking wickets is crucial for both teams in the middle order," he stated.
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