Is Abhishek Sharma struggling to cope with the expectations of playing in a World Cup in front of home fans?
Key Points
- Abhishek Sharma was dismissed for 15, his fourth failure in a row in the T20 World Cup.
- Abhishek was dismissed for ducks in the first three games of the World Cup.
- Abhishek could make way for Sanju Samson in the next match against Zimbabwe.
Opener Abhishek Sharma's nightmare run with the bat continued as India suffered a 76 run thrashing at the hands of South Africa in the T20 World Cup Super 8s match in Ahmedabad on Sunday.
Coming into the match after three successive ducks, Abhishek registered his first runs in the T20 World Cup, hitting spinner Aiden Markram for a four in the first over.
The young left-hander looked keen to dominate, but his attempted swings across the line only managed to connect with thin air against a fired-up Kagiso Rabada. He did play an incredible ramp shot off the pacer for a six over the wicket-keeper, in the third over.
Another full toss from Rabada was despatched through the covers for a four by Abhishek, who looked to counter attack to ignite India's run chase after a couple of early wickets.
However, Abhishek's reckless impatience resulted in his downfall dealing a big blow to India's hopes. Clearly frustrated at the lack of loose deliveries, at being unable to dominate the bowlers, the left-hander swung Marco Jansen across the line only to be completely foxed by a slower ball from the tall pacer.
Abhishek miscued the slower ball high on the leg side, with Corbin Bosch, who ran back from midwicket, taking a brilliant running catch as he managed to hold on despite colliding with team-mate Keshav Maharaj.
Abhishek, who made made 15 from 12 balls, was the third Indian wicket to fall in the Powerplay as India collapsed to 31/3 in six overs. Those early blows proved vital as the hosts failed to get back the momentum and kept losing wickets at regular intervals in their quest to hit boundaries.
Abhishek's run of score in T20 World Cup reads: 0, 0, 0 and 15.
Abhishek's failures hurting Team India
He had fallen for ducks in the first three games against the USA, Pakistan and The Netherlands in the group stage and with India in a desperate position, time is clearly running out for the opener.
While Abhishek has been among the best batters in the world in T20 cricket in the last year or so, it looks like the 25 year old is struggling to cope with the expectations of playing in a World Cup in front of home fans.
India have been so heavily dependent on Abhishek, that lack of runs from the left-hander is scuppering all their plans especially against top bowling attacks.
Having packed their team with all-rounders India are dependent on their specialists batter to shoulder the burden with the bat.
While India managed to go through the group stages unbeaten despite their batting line-up not hitting top gear, their shortcomings were fully exposed on a tricky wicket against a power-packed South Africa bowling line-up.
With must-win games coming up against the two in-form teams in Zimbabwe and the West Indies, it remains to be seen if India persist with Abhishek or bring back Sanju Samson, who is back in the mix despite recent struggles.
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