Abhishek Sharma’s 22-ball fifty in the series opener against New Zealand underlined a trend that has become hard to ignore. The left-hander lifted eight deliveries over the ropes, motoring to 80 from 35 balls and setting up India’s 48-run win, yet afterwards he spoke more about limitations than fireworks.
“If you watch videos [of bowlers] or if you watch your batting videos as well, you get an idea that where the bowler is planning to bowl to you or maybe where I’m going to play my shots,” he said during the post-match presentation. “But it’s always about me backing my shots because I don’t have a lot of shots. It’s just a few shots. I’m going to practice a lot and just execute it.”
The admission feels almost at odds with the numbers. Since the 2024 T20 World Cup, no batter from a Full-Member nation has struck more sixes: Abhishek sits on 81 from 33 innings, well clear of Pakistan opener Sahibzada Farhan’s 47. The statistics, though, do tally with the method. He prepares meticulously, then repeats the same scoring areas rather than expanding the repertoire in the middle.
Four of his first eight scoring strokes in Hyderabad went for six. The first boundary along the turf did not arrive until after the powerplay, when he threaded a cover drive past a packed off-side ring. The plan, he explained, is forged well before match day.
“I feel I’m more of a timing batter. So, for me, I have to just watch the ball and get used to the conditions because we are playing all over India right now and so I have to adapt to the conditions very quickly,” he said. “And for that, I plan a day before or probably whenever I get a net session. So, that’s always in my mind because these kinds of bowlers are going to bowl here and they got some plans, so I have to back it (my game) as well.”
Coaches inside the India set-up say the 25-year-old’s net work rarely involves the modern craze of range-hitting. Instead he asks for full swings of the arm from bowlers and focuses on finding the centre of the bat. The evidence was clear when Ish Sodhi dropped short in the 12th over; two identical pick-up sixes sailed into the leg side as though struck by a golfer in rhythm.
Out of 35 deliveries faced, 28 brought runs and 13 reached the boundary. The acceleration did not stall after the powerplay – an area where many openers throttle back. Three successive fours off Ben Sears in the seventh over kept the rate above 12 an over, and India finished the innings on an imposing 221 for 5.
“I don’t feel it’s a high-risk [game],” Abhishek said. “For me, I wouldn’t say it’s my comfort zone, but it’s like I always want the team to be first because they want to use the first six overs and that’s what I’ve been practising before the nets as well. And that was always in my mind, because all the main bowlers from all the teams, they bowl first, second, three overs probably [early on]. And if I can score [off them] in the first three or four overs, then we have always got the upper hand.”
Analytically the approach is sound. Modern T20 data shows that wickets in the powerplay hurt run rates less than dot balls later on. By attacking when fielding restrictions are in place, a side can absorb a wicket yet still get ahead of the par score. India captain Hardik Pandya hinted post-match that Abhishek’s freedom allows the rest of the batting order to settle into more traditional roles, but he stopped short of altering the blueprint: “Our job is to maximise whatever time he gives us,” said Pandya.
The opener is not blind to the attention his strike rate attracts. “One thing I’ve figured is that if you want to hit all the balls or probably if you want to play at the strike rate of 200 or something then you have to carry that intent and you have to practice a lot for that. Because all these teams always have a plan for me because so far I think it’s just not the fielding [placements], it’s all about the pitching and the bowling as well. So it’s about the preparation I’m doing before,” he said.
India lead the three-match contest 1-0 and move to Lucknow next, a surface generally slower than Hyderabad. Whether Abhishek’s pared-back shot menu will prosper there is an open question, yet his philosophy will not change. Timing, he believes, travels better than brute force – and the numbers currently back him up.
