Abhishek Sharma and Tilak Varma (BCCI Photo) Ahmedabad: Abhishek Sharma was understandably the most talked about cricketer at the Narendra Modi Stadium here on Friday. Two days after India’s first Super 8 match against South Africa, the tension around this colossal arena could be cut with a knife. Reason? India’s main weapon entering this T20 World Cup is yet to be lost.Friday was all about preparing for a game that will be highly tactical.
India are firing on all cylinders in the nets ahead of the match against South Africa
Brothers Morne Morkel and Albie Morkel, as coaches for India and South Africa, have not spoken to each other for a fortnight.Most of the drills – from the South African team training in the sweltering afternoon heat to Abhishek keeping watch with the bat in the nets at the end of the day – revolved around left-handers.South Africa captain Aiden Markram, batsman George Linde, Keshav Maharaj and the pace attack spent over an hour practicing bowling to the left-handers in the nets with assistant coach Albie Morkel taking a stand at the batting end.Abhishek may not have taken off but he still strikes fear in the opposition camp.Markram has played enough cricket with Abhishek and against Abhishek in the IPL to know the damage he can do to South Africa on Sunday.But it’s not just about Abhishek.In an attempt to get the balance right, India ended up with a flood of left-handers in the batting line-up.Naturally, outliers came into play.Maharaj consistently bowled full deliveries outside the off-stump, while pacers Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje and Lungi Ngidi often switched between over-the-wicket bowling and round-the-wicket bowling.After India’s last game against the Netherlands, assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate admitted the team’s rather submissive performance against the finger spinners in the tournament.South Africa are a professional enough unit to work on further exposing India’s alleged weaknesses with the bat.There may be too much predictable mumbling after India as their batting stacks too many left-handers.It was not surprising when Abhishek made it to the net after a long talk with head coach Gautam Gambhir.He spent a lot of time batting against the spinners.Instead of wild swinging, there was a lot of restraint.Even against the Mariners, it went back to basics for him.Big shots rarely fell off his bat.“Thankfully someone stood up for Abhishek. But we are at an important stage of the tournament. I am sure he will not only do good for the team but also for the audience because of the entertainment he offers,” India’s bowling coach Morne Morkel said on Friday evening.It’s strange how a batting line-up that was ruthlessly attacking bowling attacks barely a month ago has suddenly started to look a little vulnerable as they enter the business end of the tournament.The first round of matches – three against ICC associated nations – was designed to iron out the gaps.Instead, India goes into the Super 8 stage and is still revamping its strategies.“That was the make-up of the team coming into this World Cup. Opposition bowlers will still have sleepless nights,” Morne said of the make-up of the team.“We know the South African bowlers will work to take the ball away from the left-handers. So we will prepare for that,” he added.So the Indian net session for the next three hours focused on what the South Africans and the forward teams would throw at them.Ishan Kishan, in the dreamiest phase of his career, looked more focused on driving and flicking off the back foot through the offside.Arshdeep Singh stuck around this line for most of Ishan’s batting.The spinners stuck to the left-hander on the line outside the off-stump.Tilak Varma, who has yet to flow at his best in the tournament, moved to the practice pitches outside the stadium with the bowling specialists just to work on his off-side game.
