Delhi: Indian team’s young opener Abhishek Sharma won everyone’s hearts with his aggressive batting style in the T20 International series against Australia. This left-handed batsman scored 163 runs in five matches. During this period his average was 40.75 and strike rate was 161.38. He was also chosen ‘Player of the Series’ for his excellent performance.

However, his aggressive attitude backfired a bit in the last two matches of the series. In the fourth T20, he scored 28 runs on 21 balls, whereas in the last match, he got life twice by scoring 23 runs on 13 balls.

Pathan said – now teams will be ready for Abhishek

Former Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan said on his YouTube channel that now the opposing teams will work deeply on Abhishek Sharma’s batting, so they need to improve their planning and selection.

Irfan said, “Abhishek Sharma has played fearless cricket and he also got the Player of the Series award, but we should keep in mind that it was a bilateral series. In a tournament like the World Cup, teams enter with complete preparation. If Abhishek will try to play leaving the crease every time, the teams will understand him quickly, so they will have to decide against which bowler to do this. I am sure the team management and Yuvraj Singh will pay attention to this. I I will also talk to Yuvi (Yuvraj Singh) myself (laughs).”

‘It is not necessary to attack every bowler’

Pathan said that Abhishek will have to bring some balance in his batting. He said, “Abhishek himself must be thinking that it is not necessary to attack against every bowler. He has to decide when and whom to attack. In today’s (Saturday) match, he missed two catches, if even one had been caught, his innings would have ended there.”

‘We have to focus on powerplay’

Irfan Pathan further said that Abhishek will also have to pay attention to his shot selection and technique, because sometimes his risky play can become a reason for criticism.

He said, “His game is high-risk, but its reward is also big. Many times people will say ‘What kind of shot was that?’ But along with fearless cricket, some thinking is also necessary. Nathan Ellis troubled him a lot, so in the coming time other bowlers will also test him with slower balls in the powerplay. Abhishek will especially have to work on his bat flow, because balls of different speeds can come near the head, we have also seen this in Australia.

Team India’s next challenge

India will now play two more T20 series before the T20 World Cup, one against South Africa and the other against New Zealand. In this series, Abhishek Sharma will have a golden opportunity to further improve his game.