Abhishek Sharma is a prime example of making the best use of one’s limitations. He admits that in his arsenal, there aren’t a wide range of shots and so he backs what he can do while unleashing carnage
on bowlers. On Wednesday, he showed the New Zealand bowlers why he’s regarded as one of the most fearsome batters in T20 cricket while blasting 84 off 35 deliveries, an innings featuring five fours and eight sixes at the Vidarbha Cricket Stadium in Nagpur.
Abhishek shed some light on his preparations, revealing he watches videos of his own batting to get an idea of where the bowlers are trying to bowl to him.
“I feel if you watch videos or if you watch your batting videos, you get an idea that where bowlers are planning to bowl to you or maybe where I’m going to play my shots. But it’s always about me backing my shots because I don’t have a lot of shots. It’s just a few shots I’m going to practise a lot about that and I’ll just execute it,” Abhishek said after the match.
“We had a plan from day one and are just following it. I’ve figured out if you want to hit all balls or strike at 200, you have to carry intent. All teams have a plan for me. It’s about my preparation. I’m going to back my instinct,” he added.
Though he’s known for going after the bowlers from the first ball itself, Abhishek doesn’t consider his role to be that of a “high-risk” taker nor is it his comfort zone.
“I don’t feel my role is high-risk, wouldn’t say this is my comfort zone. But I’ve been practising to go big in the first six. I never do range-hitting. I’m more of a timing batter, I need to watch the ball and get used to the conditions. For it, I plan in my net session. I feel, if you watch your batting videos, you get an idea of where the bowler bowls to you,” he said.
India T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav lauded Abhishek for how he carries himself on and off the field.
“The way he prepares, I mean, it’s not just how he bats in the games, but the way he prepares himself, the way he carries himself, when he’s in the hotel, in the team bus. I think all those things, small-small things, it reflects on the ground and he is enjoying those fruits of that,” he said.
