India’s assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate reckons food poisoning hampered Abhishek Sharma’s progress amid the T20 World Cup 2026. After the opening game against the USA, Sharma suffered a stomach infection and was even admitted to the hospital.

In the group stages of the ongoing T20I showpiece, Abhishek bagged three consecutive ducks. In the Super 8 clash against South Africa, Abhishek was dismissed after scoring 15 runs off 12 balls at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad on Sunday as India suffered a heavy loss of 76 runs.

Ryan ten Doeschate said in the post-match press conference, “It is a concern. You’ve got four quality players there who haven’t delivered so far. I certainly won’t make excuses for Abhishek or Tilak [Varma]. They don’t need excuses made for them, but I think Abhi’s preparation coming into the World Cup, with the food poisoning that he had at one stage, has obviously hampered his progress in terms of where we want him to be at this phase.

“You want him to be up and running and sort of confident in his swing and confident in his game plan. And, you know, when you score three zeroes, that is going to start weighing on you. He looks a little bit short and, you know, our job as the coaching staff is to put that right,” the 45-year-old went on to add.

On the other hand, Rinku Singh was dismissed for a second-ball duck against the Proteas but Doeschate said the left-hander hasn’t received many opportunities in the middle.

He concluded, “I think that number seven, eight position has become incredibly tough in T20 cricket. You look where he walked in against Namibia. He’s had to turn down the single three or four times. And then he comes in in a pretty hopeless situation again tonight. He’s opted to go for the boundary and try to get us as close as we can. And on a wicket that holds a little bit, you know, that can happen. So he hasn’t had the best opportunities.”

India will next take on Zimbabwe at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai, on Thursday.