Abhishek Sharma was named player of the match for playing another match-winning innings. On January 21, the young opening batsman led Team India to a 48-run win over New Zealand in the first match of the five-match T20 series. Sharma’s 84 off 35 helped the hosts register Batting first 238/7. After the match, despite knowing his reliability and heroics, as he did during the match, the 25-year-old chose to remain humble and said, “I don’t have a lot of shots.”
Before the match, cricket experts at the pitch side told us that there were a lot of cracks under the thin grass layer. They were expecting to see a low-scoring match in Nagpur. Actually, it was raining sixes and fours in the VCA stadium. Abhishek Sharma. The Indian opener had hit the ball four times to the gallery for a maximum boundary, before hitting his first four of the match.
Abhishek Sharma’s stormy innings in Nagpur
India, who came to bat first after losing the toss, lost the wickets of Sanju Samson and Ishan Kishan at short intervals. While the possibility of another batting collapse loomed, the partnership between captain Suryakumar Yadav and Abhishek Sharma provided the team with some much-needed stability in the middle. Yadav, who was out of runs for a long time, was cautious and added runs. At the other end, Sharma was mostly dealing with big shots.
During the 35-ball innings, the emerging opening batsman hit eight sixes and five explosive fours, taking his strike rate to 240.00. He touched the half-century mark in 22 balls. When Ish Sodhi dismissed him with the help of a safe pair from Kyle Jamieson, Sharma had 84 off 35, and India were at 149/4 in 12 overs.
Abhishek Sharma reveals how he prepared for IND vs NZ 1st T20I match
Before the T20I competition, Abhishek Sharma did not get enough time to prepare, as he had to participate in home games. Nevertheless, he favored his natural game and managed to perform again for the winning goal. During the post-match presentation ceremony, the southpaw said that videos of opposition bowlers and highlights of his own batting helped him a lot in his preparations.
“If you watch videos of bowlers or if you even watch videos of your batting, you get an idea of where the bowler is planning to bowl to you or maybe where I am going to play my shots,” Sharma said at the presentation ceremony.
“But it’s always about supporting 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 execute it.”
I am not that strong a man: Abhishek Sharma
after the match, Abhishek Sharma He claimed that he is not one of the strongest batsmen on the field but still managed to cross the boundary due to timing and awareness.
“I think I am a timing batsman. So, for me, I just have to see the ball and get used to the conditions because we are playing all over India right now, and so I have to adjust to the conditions very quickly,” he said.
Also read: Sanju Samson finally speaks on Rahul Dravid being ignored in T20 World Cup 2024
