Pressure does funny things to a cricketer. And no one knows that better than Indian opener Abhishek Sharma, who has been in woeful form at the ICC T20 World Cup 2026. The world number one T20I batsman, who entered the tournament in the form of his life, has scored just 15 runs so far. He scored three ducks in four innings.
But we know all that, don’t we?
The question Indian fans are looking for is – what went wrong with Abhishek Sharma? Abhishek’s T20 World Cup was not up to his standards. (PTI Photo)
Shocking dough, known for its ability to clean ropes at will, has been outwitted by the spinners and outthought by the pacers in the last four games. Abhishek showed a glimmer of hope against South Africa and got off to a steady start but it quickly fizzled out after he failed to read the ball from his former SunRisers Hyderabad teammate Marc Jansen and was drawn into a fake shot.
WHAT HAPPENED TO ABHISHEK SHARMA?
To understand what is going wrong, one may need to get back to preparing for the tournament. In India’s last warm-up series before the World Cup, Abhishek was showered with praise for his exceptional scoring.
In an interview with Sunil Gavaskar and Abhinav Mukund, Abhishek explained his process of selecting net bowlers similar to the opposition he would face – a method that helped him prepare for match day challenges.
A very confident Abhishek said that he knows what the bowlers will try against him in the World Cup and he is ready for those plans.
He correctly predicted that teams would either counter him or apply early rotation pressure. Abhishek started this World Cup with three consecutive ducks. (Photo: PTI)
However, despite hours of preparation, Abhishek faltered.
An unfortunate bout of illness meant he couldn’t concentrate against the US. Abhishek had a fever of 103 degrees Fahrenheit with the bat and was probably struggling to even track the ball properly and ended up giving away a catch to a boundary runner on the very first delivery he faced.
If the fever wasn’t bad enough, his health deteriorated further ahead of India’s next match in Delhi, and the lefty was admitted to the hospital for food poisoning.
After Abhishek missed the Namibia encounter, he was drafted straight into the high profile India vs Pakistan match. The pressure seemed to get to him and he was dismissed for a four-ball duck.
At this point, former Bengal cricketer Shreevats Goswami believes the problem became mental.
“He is exaggerating. Everything comes from your mind. If your mind is not at peace, your body will not be at peace,” Shreevats Goswami told India Today over phone.
Goswami, currently part of the commentary panel for Star Sports during the T20 World Cup, believes that Abhishek came under a lot of pressure because he thought the team expected him to score 50 or 100 every time he went into bat.
And this expectation has a reason.
Abhishek has been one of the main architects of India’s unprecedented rise in T20I cricket. He scored two hundreds and eight fifties in the tournament, which took him to the top spot in the T20I rankings. The hype surrounding Abhishek Sharma has taken a big hit in this World Cup. (Photo: PTI)
“He needs to stop thinking about his reputation and think about the team. Think about a good start instead of thinking about a fifty or a hundred because that is very far away now. When you score 20-30 runs, go ballistic,” suggested Goswami.
Is Abhishek having a technical problem? Goswami doesn’t think so and neither does the Indian team management. Captain Suryakumar Yadav and batting coach Sitanshu Kotak say Abhishek is batting well in the nets. Abhishek leaves no stone unturned during his practice. (PTI Photo)
They’re not entirely wrong. Although he didn’t always look fluent in training, when he joined he sent the ball 20 rows back into the stands.
However, Kotak admitted at the press conference that he would prefer not to comment at length on Abhishek as the repeated discussion about the out-of-form player only adds to the pressure on him.
WHY ABHISHEK IS FIGHTING Vs SPIN?
The teams targeted Abhishek with off-spin. Pakistan did it with Salman Agha, Netherlands with Aryan Dutt and South Africa with Aiden Markram. While Abhishek was able to survive Markram in the Super 8 fight, the slower ball from Marc Jansen ended up chopping high into the air.
Surprisingly, Abhishek struggled against off-spin – something that is usually his forte in the Indian Premier League. His franchise bought Travis Head in part because Head was seen as a speed batsman, while Abhishek was exceptional against spin.
The two often took on defined roles, focused on specific matches and helped SunRisers Hyderabad post big totals.
“I don’t know what went wrong. Abhishek is a trailblazer. Even Ishan Kishan’s dismissal was surprising against South Africa. Both of them have to hit the ground, find gaps. India have to take calculated risks. The cricket Abhishek is playing right now is 80% risk and 20% success,” Goswami said, partly agitated.
HOW CAN ABHISHEK GET BACK IN FORM?
Since the Netherlands match where Abhishek clean bowled Aryan Dutt, India have largely left him alone in training. These days he uses the extended spells of Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya before stepping into the nets later to counter a mix of spin and pace.
Goswami believes that this hands-off procedure is correct.
“You leave the person alone. You don’t have to be on the person’s mind all the time. In international cricket, they don’t give much advice. A coach might say one or two points that would help him,” said the former Bengal batsman.
Suryakumar Yadav publicly supported Abhishek, effectively giving him a long rope in his side. Speaking before the match in South Africa, Suryakumar said that Abhishek had led the team last year and now it was time for the team to return the favor. Can Abhishek make Suryakumar’s faith count? (PTI Photo)
But he can only talk so far.
Goswami suggested that it might be time for the batting coach to advise Abhishek to focus on boundaries instead of sixes. Maybe it’s about getting his eye first and the scoring rate later.
“If I were a batsman’s coach, I would tell him to focus on boundaries instead of hitting sixes. Drop your ego because this is the World Cup. You haven’t scored in four matches now. Think about the team and change your approach,” Goswami said.
“The team needs runs from you. Stop thinking you are a big six striker. You are not scoring,” he added.
As India prepared for a do-or-die showdown against New Zealand, they brought the local spinners into the nets for the first time and underwent specialized anti-spin training ahead of the match.
After the heavy loss to the Proteas, India now find themselves in a position where they have to win both their remaining matches and rely on other results to qualify for the semi-finals.
On Thursday, India will be hoping that Abhishek turns up.
If they do, they might just claw back the Net Run Rate deficit conceded against South Africa. And perhaps it would mark a fresh start – for the batting line-up and for Abhishek Sharma in this tournament.
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Issued by:
Debodinna Chakraborty
Published on:
February 26, 2026
