Former Indian leg-spinner Piyush Chawla has downplayed any concerns regarding Abhishek Sharma’s form ahead of the match against the Netherlands in the ongoing T20 World Cup. Abhishek bagged a golden duck in the team’s opening match against the USA.
The left-hander then missed the next game against Namibia in Delhi due to stomach infection but he was once again dismissed without troubling the scorers in the last match against arch-rivals Pakistan.
Abhishek is the number one batter in the ICC T20I rankings and had recently scored 182 runs in five matches against New Zealand at a strike rate of almost 250. But he would definitely want to get back the runs against the Dutch.
“There won’t be too much pressure because he was doing what he has been doing for the previous 18 months, and got out while trying to do that only. The way Abhishek bats, it’s high-risk, high-reward batting, and we have been discussing that if this player plays six overs, he will finish the match, and we have seen that happening many times,” Piyush Chawla said on JioHotstar.
“The pressure of the World Cup is there in the mind as it’s a big tournament. However, there won’t be that much pressure just because he hasn’t scored runs in two matches as he has the team’s backing, and you have to back such players. He is a proper match-winner,” he added.
Meanwhile, former Indian wicket-keeper bat Parthiv Patel said Abhishek has been successful in T20Is while playing with an aggressive approach.
“He has scored more than 1,000 runs with this approach only. We know the game will be like this only. He will either get out very early or bat the opposition out of the game if he plays 25-30 balls. So there is no need to change anything,” he responded.
The Gujarat Titans assistant coach said Abhishek is batting well in the nets and thus there is no need to worry.
“Secondly, everyone is saying he is playing very well in the nets. It’s not like he is struggling. The practice pitches weren’t that good in Colombo, but he was batting in control even there. Abhishek’s strength is this only. If you have scored so many runs with such a high strike rate, why is there a need to change?” Parthiv observed.
India will take on the Netherlands at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad, on Wednesday.
