Abhishek Sharma and Ishan Kishan (AP Photo) CHENNAI: The legendary Wasim Akram said during a chat with a few journalists in September last year that Abhishek Sharma was one batsman who would give him a hard time. At that moment, Abhishek was belting good bowlers for fun. Ahead of the T20 World Cup, it was the incredible firepower of Abhishek and Ishan Kishan that made India heavy favourites.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SIGN UP NOW!Two and a half weeks into the tournament, it’s a lackluster performance from the same opening pair that has left the defending champions in a tricky position. The opening pair average is a dismal 6.8, the lowest in the tournament. Above them is already eliminated Oman, which had an average of 10.
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And this whole debacle is centered around the poor form of Abhishek. After three consecutive ducks, he scored a 12-ball 15 in Ahmedabad, but it was not a smooth knock as he struggled against the South African attack. However, the young batsman had a long batting session on Tuesday night and batting coach Sitanshu Kotak feels “there is only one good hit left”.“His health took a beating before the tournament. He didn’t have much momentum after that. I think there is no point in thinking about one individual and he will bounce back,” Kotak said on Wednesday.It is now an open secret that the Indian openers – both left-handers – have struggled against the off-spinners. While Abhishek got to Salman Ali Agha and Aryan Dutt, Ishan Kishan handed over his wicket to Aiden Markram on Sunday. That’s not all. The middle order also struggled against off-spin as they faced 102 off-spin balls and scored just 6.23 per over. “We know Zimbabwe will try to take advantage of this and we are working on that,” Kotak said. Steps in this direction were taken when five Tamil Nadu age-group off-spinners were called into the nets on Tuesday evening as Abhishek et al. they tried to take them apart. But the problem does not end with Abhishek. Tilak Varma was also not at his best.Batting at No. 3, Tilak managed only 107 but disappointingly a strike rate of 118.9, much lower than his career strike rate of 141.8. Tilak tried to turn the blow and this sometimes led to sudden shots. The southpaw had a very long session on Tuesday night and was back to hit the nets on Wednesday as well.Kotak felt that Tilak’s batting at run-a-ball should not be taken out of context. “It’s a question of two boundaries and 26-ball 28 can become 28-ball 38. He has no instruction to play run-a-ball cricket, he just plays the situation like it was in Colombo (against Pakistan) where it was a partnership,” Kotak said.But then he acknowledged that Sanju Samson is also in the mix for selection, which says a lot about top-order fights. For now, all the batting coach is hoping for is “Abhishek will hit a few balls at the start of his innings”, with Tilak and Surya continuing the pace. “We came here on top of the bilaterals, but a couple of dismissals changed things a bit. But I’m sure we’ll be fine,” Kotak said.
