Former Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar has said that while Abhishek Sharma is a ‘lovely’ player, expectations seem to be weighing him down, after the latter registered his third successive duck in the T20
World Cup on Wednesday, against the Netherlands.
Choosing to bat, India had hoped for Abhishek to find form ahead of the Super 8s, but he suffered his third successive duck in the tournament. Once in the form of his life, he is yet to register a run in his maiden ICC event.
In previous league games, Gerhard Erasmus, Usman Qadir and Saim Ayub had given India plenty of trouble with their off-spin. On Wednesday, it was the turn of Indian-origin off-spinner Aryan Dutt to shine against the star-studded hosts at the world’s largest cricket stadium.
“Abhishek Sharma is a lovely guy, but expectations seem to be weighing on him. If he had started well against the USA, it would have been different. Now, the pressure of being the big six-hitter and top batter is showing,” Gavaskar said while speaking on Star Sports.
“With his shot range, he (Abhishek) needs to spend time in the middle. He cannot try to hit a boundary or six on the first ball of his innings. If the big shots come, fine. But he should not force himself to play the big shots across the line,” Gavaskar added.
On the eve of the match day, the Indian batters focused on their game against the spinners in the nets, but going forward, they still have work to do.
“Take a single and get off the mark. Even four dot balls don’t matter. He (Abhishek) can make up for them later. He needs to play smart at the start. Spend an over or two settling in, then play his natural game,” Gavaskar said.
