Team India is prepping for the T20 World Cup 2026 Super 8s stage, as they have been placed in Group 1 with West Indies, Zimbabwe, and South Africa. Their first game of the Super 8s will be against South Africa on February 22 and will be played in Ahmedabad.
The spotlight will be on young India opener Abhishek Sharma, who has registered three ducks in the three matches he has played in the group stage. While there were talks about dropping him in the Super 8s stage, the Indian team management looks in no mood to do so, and instead, the youngster is expected to get a long rope.
Any discussion about benching Abhishek Sharma for India's opening Super 8 match against South Africa on Sunday in Ahmedabad was refuted by bowling coach Morne Morkel.
“Absolutely no discussion in our team group about that. He is a world-class player. So far in the tournament, luckily, we’ve had other guys standing up with Abhishek not scoring the runs you would like.
We’re going through a very important phase of the World Cup now, and I’m pretty sure he’s going to deliver. Not just for the team, but also for all the viewers watching the game, because he’s entertaining and we love to see that. He’s hitting the ball well in the nets. It’s just a matter of getting that start and getting his innings going," Morkel said in a press conference.
In eight innings this year, Abhishek has made 182 runs at an average of 26.00 and a strike rate of over 224, with two fifties and a best score of 84.
Abhishek was at the top of his game last year, amassing 859 runs in 21 innings with a strike rate of over 193, an average of 42.95, a century, five fifties, and a maximum score of 135. He has scored 1,297 runs at an average of 34.13 and a strike rate of 192 in 41 T20Is in 40 innings, including two hundreds and eight fifties.
After India's most recent group-stage match against the Netherlands, Doeschate acknowledged that opponents may better plan against India when they have three left-handers at the top: Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan, and Tilak Varma.
The assistant coach explained that their whole strategy toward finger spinners needs to be improved, not just their opposition to off-spin.
“It has made it easier for teams to plan against India. We don’t have many options (in the top three). We have got Sanju sitting on the side, and we feel on balance, particularly with the games coming up. If we look at what finger spin is, we are going to come up against New Zealand," Ten Doeschate said.
“We have got a few guys who bowl finger spin, and so do the West Indies, and so does South Africa if you include Markram. But on balance, we still feel that these are our best batters, and we are going to make do with the abundance of left-handers," he added.
(ANI inputs)
