What will Abhishek Sharma be thinking when he walks out to bat against England at the Wankhede on Thursday, in one of the biggest matches of his career? Based on the T20 World Cup he has endured so far – 80 runs in seven innings with one half-century against Zimbabwe – he might be anxious to make an impact in the semi-final. Or, if he has relived his heroics against England at this venue on February 2, 2025 by then, perhaps he will be more assured.
Here’s a lookback at what happened that night.
Abhishek started by charging Jofra Archer and Mark Wood, paying no regard to whether the ball was coming at him at 145kph or 152kph. His intention was clear: hit big. Archer started with a 142.3kph delivery on a good length. Abhishek, having moved outside leg stump, galloped down the track to hit him over cover for a four.
Two balls later, Archer banged one short of good length, at 143kph, on a fifth-stump line. Abhishek rose on his toes and cut it over point for a six.
The next ball was good length and at 147.8kph, Abhishek once again positioned himself outside leg stump, came down the pitch, and opened the bat face for a flat six over covers. Archer didn’t do much wrong; Abhishek was just that good that day.
Next over, Wood bowled a 152kph length ball. Abhishek took two strides forward, making it a full delivery, punched a straight drive, and then kept walking forward showing both the full bat face and the straight elbow.
If Jamie Overton thought a 126kph slower ball would catch the left-hand batter by surprise, Abhishek lofted a straight six to register the second-fastest fifty by an India batter, off 17 balls.
There was no respite for legspinner Adil Rashid either. He started with a googly wide of off stump but it went for a six. Next ball, Rashid floated a legbreak around the fourth stump but Abhishek charged and hit another six. Jos Buttler, England’s captain at the time, kept shuffling his bowlers. Abhishek kept hitting them over the boundary to score a memorable 135 off 54 balls and set up a 150-run win.Abhishek attacked almost every ball with his long-handled grip – not wild hacks but with the bat flowing through neat lines. In 40 T20 innings since then and the start of this T20 World Cup, Abhishek blitzed 1505 runs at an average of nearly 40 and a strike rate of 203.65, including two centuries. Almost everyone thought he was going to be the most-feared batter in the tournament.
The clarity he brought on that February evening is what Abhishek has been seeking all through this tournament, where he has now truly understood the difference in pressure between bilateral cricket and a World Cup.
After India’s win against West Indies, which took them into the semi-finals, head coach Gautam Gambhir said his message to the players was to play the situation. “The pressure is different, the competition is different,” Gambhir had said. “Obviously, the stakes are much higher as well. In bilaterals, you get time to make a comeback, but in the World Cups, you don’t have that time, and more importantly, people expect us to play the same brand of cricket we played in the bilaterals as well. But you can imagine the pressure the boys go through, especially [since] most of the games are must-win games as well.”
Opponents have also started with an offspinner to India’s left-handed openers – as Netherlands and Pakistan did – and fast bowlers have started bowling more slower balls in the powerplay. With matches every few days in the T20 World Cup, the challenge for coaches is to get the batter playing his natural game and not overthink. Abhishek doesn’t overthink, according to India’s bowling coach Morne Morkel.
Self-belief is the backbone of Abhishek’s batting. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have hit 93 sixes, the most by any batter since the 2024 T20 World Cup, and scored consistently at a phenomenal strike rate. However, right now, Abhishek finds himself in unknown territory. Being in the moment is not always easily done. Give your all, commit to the point you are playing, and then forget it. That way, you commit to the next point – it’s the mantra Roger Federer followed and built his legend on. It did not come to Federer straightaway, but he managed to do it because he stuck with it.
Abhishek is only 25, less than two years old in international cricket. This is his first World Cup, and there is every possibility that the stage has overwhelmed him. On Thursday evening, he will be at the ground where he played one of his most dazzling innings. He will no doubt remember how he went about flaying the England bowlers without fear and doubt. One shot, one six is perhaps all he needs to get going once again.
Nagraj Gollapudi is news editor at ESPNcricinfo
