From outside, Abhishek Sharma‘s way of batting in T20Is might just look like the easiest thing to replicate; choose your zones, bowlers and just go for the kill. But to be able to do that repeatedly, and yet get the results, is just now possible for anyone. After all, the man has done it in 37 matches, at an average of 37 and a strike-rate of 194.
Abhishek Sharma plays on merit of ball
Batting coach Sitanshu Kotak explained, it is just not reckless shots, but a method to his madness. The coach told Indian Express, “He is someone who plays a lot of shots, but his shots don’t seem like slogging. He is playing more on the merit of the ball. I feel it’s very important when you are an aggressive batsman, and you are trying to play maximum shots on the merit of the ball.”
Kotak explained, that after a dismissal in the second IND vs NZ match at square leg, Abhishek Sharma was better prepared. “He is a clever batsman. In the second game, he got out playing big on the square leg. So in the third game, when he batted, if you look at the way he approached that innings, he was prepared. He was planning for the bowlers to bowl in those areas, and he was prepared for that,” he said.
There’s a plan..
Kotak did not end there and said that there is planning against bowlers. Which shot would be better.. “Obviously, it is his plan, what he wants to do when he goes in. But we definitely discuss the plans, like what areas the bowlers are trying to bowl, the pace at which they would bowl and what would be the better shot in the situation,” he said. “It’s not that he just goes and does things (the way he likes). It’s not like that. He is very open to everything,” he said.
