Former India captain Anil Kumble shared his thoughts on Abhishek Sharma’s batting approach ahead of the IPL 2026. Kumble pointed out that Abhishek’s attacking style is his strength, but staying longer at the crease and accelerating the innings smartly could take his game to the next level.

Speaking on JioStar, Kumble compared Abhishek with former India opener Virender Sehwag, who had a similar intent but executed it more smartly. “I would relate him to someone like Virender Sehwag, because he would look to smash every ball. When he moved from Test cricket to one-day cricket and then to T20 cricket, he realised that he had to pace his innings slightly differently. But Virender Sehwag would still go at a 140–150 strike-rate,” Kumble said.

Abhishek has played 46 T20Is so far, scoring 1438 runs at a strike rate of 190.46. For Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the IPL, he has scored 1753 runs with a strike rate of around 160.

However, Abhishek had a difficult ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 campaign. He managed only two fifties, but overall, the number-one-ranked T20I batter did not perform as per expectations.

Kumble further explained that the T20 World Cup winner should not focus only on strike rate but more on playing impactful innings. He said, “So, that’s something Abhishek Sharma needs to start thinking about, saying, ‘I’ve been scoring at a 200 strike-rate, expectations are on me, should I now go at a strike rate of 300?’ No, you have to be normal. You have to play several balls.

If Abhishek Sharma bats 20 balls in an innings, we know he will be close to that 50 mark. We saw that with Sanju Samson, not getting out in the 40s or 50s, but making it count by going deeper, getting to that 85-90 mark. That’s what you need in the T20 format. Maybe that’s the kind of maturity you will see in Abhishek Sharma this season, which SRH will be hoping for.”

SRH will face defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in the tournament opener on March 28 in Bengaluru.