Former South African captain Faf du Plessis has urged Abhishek Sharma to be better aware of the opposition’s plans against him in the ongoing T20 World Cup. Sharma managed only 15 runs off 12 balls against South Africa in the previous match after three consecutive ducks in the group stage.
Sharma has struggled to get going against the off-spinners and he was dismissed by a knuckle delivery from Marco Jansen in the last game. The left-hander has been trying to hit the ground running, but his aggressive approach has backfired.
Faf du Plessis said on ESPN Cricinfo, “Tactically, the game has got so smart with analysts and the way that they are trying to get you out. What I’ve picked up of late with Abhishek is people are now putting a deep point out and a deep extra cover out because he’s so good at hitting the ball through the off side.
“So the key is to make sure that when you get to the crease, you’re aware of what the opposition is trying to do. How are they trying to get me out?… Am I trying to whack the ball for six over point, over cover? Knowing Abhishek, you’re probably trying to whack it for six over cover because he hits the ball so clean. But that’s the decisions you have to make as a batter,” Du Plessis went on to add.
The former CSK and RCB batter noted that the teams are targeting Abhishek with slower deliveries and the southpaw must tackle it with guile.
“Teams are bowling a lot of slower balls at him, and it’s because he’s got such a beautiful swing. What you’re trying to do with guys that have such a long swing is you’re trying to take pace off the ball. So once again, his decision is, how do I counter guys when they’re bowling it slow?
Faf said he would have run at the bowler to generate the pace against the slower balls.
“For me, what I try to do when guys are bowling slower balls at me, I either try to come down the wicket because you want to generate pace to hit the ball, or you try to hang back and set for that slower ball so that your hands are never in front of you. I’m not going to try to talk to Abhishek about batting. You know exactly what to do, but I can see teams are bowling a lot of slower balls at him,” he concluded.
India will next take on Zimbabwe at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai, on Thursday.
