Ahmedabad: Abhishek Sharma and Tilak Varma have been India’s T20I aces in the five months leading up to this T20 World Cup. They complement each other while commanding the highest order with equal destructiveness and profitability. With both of them struggling to make headway in the first two weeks of the tournament, it now appears their form is relevant.
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Even though Ishan Kishan and Rinku Singh practiced their power-hitting for 90 minutes under the scorching sun at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Saturday afternoon, neither took part in the optional practice session.
India captain Suryakumar Yadav made no attempt to gloss over Varma’s struggles. A score of 106 runs in four innings with a strike rate of around 120 does not reflect the potential or core principles of this team’s T20 batting. “I am sure he must not be happy with his current batting. He has practiced a lot in the last 2-3 practices as well,” Surya said in a candid assessment of Varma’s form. “But I don’t have any concerns about him. He has done well for India in this position,” he added.
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Abhishek’s usual bellicose approach to power plays has played a major role in liberating India’s middle order over the past five months. His failure to initiate action coincided with Tilak’s rather indecisive approach. “The team management told him that he has to bat like this. If only one wicket falls, then he can definitely play his game in the Powerplay. But, once two wickets fall, then he has to step back and build a partnership again to bat till the 10th over. After that we have enough firepower to bowl. If the team feels that any player, like Tilak or me, if he has to bat at a strike rate of 200 or 200, then he has to bat in this way. 150, then he will do it,” Surya reasoned.
The extent of Abhishek’s impact can be measured as India’s batting looked visibly hamstrung, refusing to even replicate the astronomical scores in the first two bilateral series against South Africa and New Zealand. “We try to explode from the beginning. Because that’s their (batsmen’s) template. But at the end of the day, we don’t want to be a team that keeps hitting the ball,” Surya said.
“Honestly, I never thought in the beginning that we could score 230, 250, 270 so easily. I was actually worried for the people who were worried about Abhishek. We wanted to play with his quality. We knew what was going to happen when he came on,” the skipper said with a smile.
Despite Ishan Kishan’s ruthless knockout of the bowling attack in the powerplay, Tilak failed to take off. That said, the team isn’t willing to hit the panic button just yet. Both Abhishek and Tilak are participating in the World Cup for the first time. With Sanju Samson out of form, the substitutes currently available don’t inspire much confidence either. After 18 months in the doldrums, Surya felt it was time for the team to repay Abhishek and Tilak. “Last year, they had it all covered for us. This time, the rest of us will do it,” Surya said.