New Zealand’s bowling coach Jacob Oram has admitted that bowling to Abhishek Sharma is very difficult amid the T20I series against India. The left-hander has been in prime form and has breathed down the neck of the opposition bowlers with his attacking game.

Sharma scored a blistering knock of 68 runs off just 20 balls to help India chase down 154 runs in 10 overs in the third T20I against the Kiwis. The left-hander smashed seven fours and five sixes in his whirlwind knock. 

The youngster completed his fifty off just 14 balls, the second fastest T20I half-century for India after his mentor Yuvraj Singh, who scored a 12-ball fifty against England in the 2007 T20 World Cup.

Earlier in the series opener against the Kiwis, Sharma scored a blistering knock of 84 runs off just 35 balls.

“The answer to that is simple: it is very difficult,” Oram said during a press conference. “When you look at his strike rate, it’s hard, first, to identify any real weakness in his game, and then, secondly, to execute a plan against him. Execution is the hardest thing in cricket, whether you’re batting or bowling.”

The former New Zealand all-rounder said it is imperative to execute the plans and it is not easy when a batter like Abhishek is playing aggressively.

“At same time, when there is a bit of chaos out in the middle, with the ball flying everywhere, it takes real composure to stay calm, remain controlled, remember the plans and then execute them. But this is all part of the learning process. This is exactly what this series was about, and despite the results, if we come out of it better for the experience and are somewhere near the Super Eights, the semi-finals and the final in March, then this period will have been hugely valuable for us, because we will have taken so much from it,” he added.

The fourth T20I between India and New Zealand will be played at Visakhapatnam on Wednesday.