Former Indian wicket-keeper bat Parthiv Patel has urged under-fire Abhishek Sharma to time the ball in the T20 World Cup semifinal clash against England. Patel noted that Abhishek was trying to hit the ball out of the Eden Gardens, Kolkata in the virtual quarterfinal game against the West Indies.
Sharma has managed only 80 runs in six matches of the tournament and thus he hasn’t been at his best. However, the southpaw had scored a blistering knock of 135 runs against England in 2025 at the Wankhede Stadium and he would want to turn the tables.
“Basically nothing. If I were there in the dressing room, I would tell Abhishek Sharma to just react to whatever delivery is being thrown at him. We have seen how skillful he is, not just six-hitting ability, but to score those big runs. He needs to go back to just timing the ball again. I felt, even in Kolkata, he was trying to hit the ball out of the Eden Gardens,” Parthiv Patel said on Star Sports.
Patel said he wants Abhishek to keep playing with an aggressive approach against Harry Brook’s team.
“Here on this ground, the bounce will be true, there will be pace, and he has to make sure that he just tries to time the ball, so that he has that stable base to launch into bigger shots. To me, that’s where he is losing his shape a bit. Nothing apart from that. I don’t want him to change his mindset. You have to respect the ball, but you have to still be attacking with your mindset,” Parthiv observed.
On the other hand, the Gujarat Titans assistant coach believes Sanju Samson would have received a shot in the arm after scoring 97 runs against the West Indies.
“That would give him a lot of self-belief for sure. His back was against the wall. He was fighting for his form. He was probably fighting for his place in the Indian team for one last time. To come out and play the innings he did, understandably, he was very emotional because there was a lot at stake,” he replied.
Patel wants Samson to play with a similar mindset of taking the game deep against England.
“He always had that skill. It is just about making sure that you use your experience on a very, very important day, and Sanju Samson did that really well. I thought it was a well-planned innings. So, once again, get into the same mindset and try to bat as deep as possible,” Parthiv observed.
India will take on England in the second semifinal at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai, on Thursday.
