Abhishek on his preparation ahead of a T20 game, says I back myself because I don’t have a lot of shots in my repertoire.
India batsman Abhishek Sharma claimed he simply backs his shots “because I don’t have a lot of shots” following eight sixes off the centre of the bat, a strike rate of 240 after facing 35 balls, a fifty off 22 balls, and yet another incredible exhibition of new-ball striking. Abhishek’s lightning-fast innings in the opening Twenty20 International against New Zealand capped off his incredible T20 performance and helped the hosts win by 48 runs.
After India was asked to bat, Abhishek came out firing. After the powerplay expired, he smoked four sixes before hitting his first four. Abhishek claimed that completing some homework before a game helps him get in the zone because he doesn’t have much time as an opener to analyse conditions before he gets going.
“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,” Abhishek said at the 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.”
“If you see, I would never do range-hitting because I’m not that strong kind of guy,” he said. “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. 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.”
Abhishek faced 35 balls, of which 28 went for runs and 13 for boundaries. He peppered the fence after the powerplay expired, unlike many other batters. In the seventh over, he hit three consecutive fours, and in the twelfth over, he hit back-to-back sixes against Ish Sodhi.
“I don’t feel it’s a high-risk [game],” Abhishek said about his approach. “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.
“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 the games because I’ve got two-three days or maybe a week before this. So I knew that I’m going to get challenged by these bowlers, but obviously I’m going to back my instinct and I’ve been practising a lot about that.”