The current India opening batter Abhishek Sharma’s father, Rajkumar Sharma has hailed the former T20I captain of the national team, Rohit Sharma for being aggressive in the shortest format of the game, and inspired the youngsters to do the same, because of the demand of it in recent times.
This statement came after Abhishek Sharma celebrated his maiden century in his International career in just his second game during the ongoing Zimbabwe T20I series, when he recorded 100 runs in 47 balls, with the help of seven boundaries and eight over-boundaries with a strike rate of 212.77.
For a long time, India used to be quite defensive in their approach to the 20-over format. They used to start cautiously keeping wickets in hand, and later looked to go aggressive during the death phase of the game.
‘I am glad he is trying to follow the footsteps of Rohit’- Abhishek Sharma’s father
The semifinal of the 2022 T20 World Cup in Adelaide Oval against England was the perfect eye-opener for the Indian team when they kept on defending and reached a below-par score at the end, which England chased down without any hard work with 10 wickets in hand.
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Since then India changed the template, and the way Rohit took the role of being aggressive in the powerplay, going after the new ball bowlers from the start produced results, and helped the blue bridge to earn their second T20 World Cup title.
The India captain ended the ICC 20-over event as the second-highest run-getter with 257 runs in eight innings, at a strike rate of 156.70, celebrating three fifties, along with the 92-run knock against Australia in St. Lucia.
Abhishek Sharma batted with the same freedom in the 20-over format for the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) during the Indian Premier League, where he finished with 484 runs in 16 innings, at an average of 32.26, a strike rate of 204.21, celebrating three half-centuries with a best of unbeaten 75 runs.
Even during the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, the 23-year-old had an excellent season with bat, as he played a pivotal role in Punjab lifting the trophy. Abhishek Sharma ended with 485 runs in 10 innings at a strike rate of 192.46, which was the best among those batters who have faced 120 balls in the competition.
His father Rajkumar has praised Rohit Sharma for setting this template and feels happy that his son is following his footsteps in this format.
‘The demand of T20 cricket now is to attack from ball one. You have to be brave. Rohit Sharma has shown the way for all the Indian youngsters. The template is set and I am glad that Abhishek is trying to follow in the footsteps of Rohit.’ Rajkumar noted to ‘Indian Express.’ ‘I hope he continues to play in this style and I don’t believe that this approach is a double-edged sword. He has shown consistency.’
With the Nagpur-born taking retirement from the shortest format of the game in International cricket, Abhishek Sharma has a great chance to showcase his skills with the bat to cement his place in the Indian team.
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He has smashed 110 runs in three T20I innings so far, with a strike rate of 183.33. While in T20s, the left-handed has smashed 2781 runs in 105 innings at an average of 154.58, with four centuries and 16 half-centuries, at a best of 112 runs.
They are scheduled to face Sri Lanka away in a three-match T20I series, and it will interesting to see if the selectors go with Abhishek Sharma as one of the openers in the squad.
