Into the T20 World Cup semifinal against England, but India have been far from perfect. Being the defending champions, Suryakumar Yadav’s men have had to deal with form issues with multiple players. One of the biggest concerns for the Indian team ahead of the England clash in the last four is the form of Abhishek Sharma. The batter has just 80 runs to his name in 6 matches, including a 55-run knock against Zimbabwe. As the Indian team management sweats over his form, the legendary Australian cricketer Ricky Ponting has created a plan. Ponting feels Abhishek needs to give himself a bit of a break, not try too hard, and let the natural talent do its job.
“Sometimes, when you’re going through a bit of a slump like that, it’s not always best just to go into the nets every day and bat for an hour and a half. Sometimes it’s better off to let these guys just have a couple of days away, like mentally freshen up. The skills don’t go anywhere. You don’t lose your skills,” Ponting asserted.
T20 World Cups are tournaments of immense pressure. Abhishek, who is playing his first World Cup, finds himself under the spotlight but is under pressure to justify the hype around his name. Amid this situation, Ponting has given Abhishek a few tips to handle the chaos.
“But in a tournament like this, when you’re consistently and constantly under pressure, and the results aren’t coming, sometimes just leaving your bag zipped up, turning up the training, getting a little bit of bowling done, getting your fielding done, but not actually batting and almost starving yourself of going back into the nets,” he added.
“I think Abhishek’s got something up his sleeve for the semi-final,” said Ponting.
“We know on his day, he’s an out-and-out match-winner. But that’s the hard thing with this Indian side as well. And if you were to leave him out and you bring Rinku in, then you’ve got another match-winner coming into your side as well,” he added.