Former Indian pacer Lakshmipathy Balaji believes over-reliance on Abhishek Sharma was palpable after the team’s opening T20 World Cup clash against the USA. Sharma was dismissed for a golden duck in the opening game of the tournament at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai on Saturday.
The left-hander has been India’s best batter in T20Is in the last one year and recently scored 182 runs in five games against New Zealand in home conditions at a blistering strike rate of almost 250.
“The start he provides is important. Though Ishan Kishan is playing well, he has come back only recently. So Abhishek Sharma still doesn’t have a set opening partner who can take over when he falls. The over-reliance on Abhishek Sharma is clear. India are struggling when he gets out early,” Balaji said (via Star Sports).
Balaji said the opposition teams are coming up with plans against Abhishek and are setting their field on the off-side with guile.
“Teams are starting to set fields square on the offside for him. So he has to bring some game awareness to the forefront. There is no doubt about his shot-making ability, but he should respect the bowlers and the conditions in the initial phase. So if he can learn that, it’ll massively benefit India.”
Meanwhile, Shivam Dube was also dismissed for a golden duck and Balaji reckons it was not an ideal time for him to come out to bat.
“The situation he walked in to bat in the last match isn’t suitable to him. Ideally, he should come in after a solid start at around the 12th or 13th over. But to bat in a situation under pressure, experience is needed, which we had before in the form of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. Probably Hardik Pandya or Axar Patel could have walked in to bat in that situation,” said Balaji (via the aforementioned source).
On the other hand, Axar Patel scored 14 runs off 11 balls and added 41 runs with Suryakumar Yadav after India were left reeling at 77-6.
“Axar Patel has played many knocks in that situation across formats. He’s a multi-format player. Multi-format players can tackle these situations well. He has a great temperament and is also an intelligent cricketer, so he’ll easily adapt. But one-way players who only power hit need to come only after a solid partnership.”
Balaji said India is holding Hardik Pandya back because of his pyrotechnics towards the fag end of an innings.
He concluded, “India are holding Hardik Pandya back because of his power-hitting ability in the final overs. He comes in mostly at 5 or 6, but for the situation India were in against the USA, experience matters. It’s only players like Hardik Pandya and Suryakumar who can bail the team out from such situations.”
India will next take on Namibia at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi on Thursday.
