Abhishek Sharma, the newly named vice-captain of the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) ahead of the IPL 2026 season, will join the league after a disappointing run in the 2026 T20 World Cup, despite Team India’s historic win, defeating New Zealand in the Final in Ahmedabad. Despite uncertainty over the batter’s form, former India pacer Lakshmipathy Balaji showed huge trust in the swashbuckling opener.
In the T20 World Cup 2026, 141 runs in eight innings with an average of 17.6, including three consecutive ducks in the group stage. But in the final, he came up with a blistering half-century, which can be a sign of ending the bad patch.
Lakshmipathy Balaji is hopeful to see Abhishek Sharma in true colors
The former Indian pacer explained why Abhishek Sharma can do a rampage in the 2026 Indian Premier League. Balaji observed that Sharma, who is the student of Yuvraj Singh, is mastered in exploiting the bowlers on both sides. The emerging opener is not among the strongly built batters on the planet, but still manages to hit his massive sixes because of his smooth and stable bat flow.
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Balaji further explained that bowlers often go towards the off-stump area to disturb the batters. But Sharma has the skill to initate an counter attack on the off, which often spoils the bowlers’ thought process.
“The mentorship of Yuvraj Singh has helped him in hitting sixes. Abhishek Sharma is not a powerful batter, but he still hits sixes easily on both sides because of his smooth bat flow. He doesn’t have an intimidating presence, but still takes the length away from the bowler straightaway. His ability to access the offside, which is a fast bowler’s go-to area, puts a lot of pressure on the bowlers,” Lakshmipathy Balaji said on Star Sports.
Subramaniam Badrinath urged Sharma to take care of his batting
While Balaji was all about praising Abhishek Sharma, another former Indian cricketer, Subramaniam Badrinath urged the batter to work on his batting against the spinners. In the 2026 World Cup, to get rid of Sharma early in the matches, they introduced spinners early in the innings.
Four of Abhishek’s seven dismissals in the World Cup were against the spinners. Pakistan skipper and spinner Salman Ali Agha, Netherlands’ spinner Aryan Dutt, Akeal Hosein from West Indies, England’s spin bowling all-rounder Will Jacks, and New Zealand’s Rachin Ravindra were the spinners in the 2026 T20 WC to dismiss the Indian opener.
His high backlift is crucial: Former CSK batter
The former CSK cricketer pointed out that the high backlift, which helps Abhishek Sharma to hit sixes, causes trouble whenever he is up against spinners in the recent past.
“He is an intimidating player who has the bowlers thinking all the time. But he has been tested in recent times against off-spin. However, if he passes that test, he’ll destroy any team. His high backlift is crucial for his success in hitting sixes at will. But it will also lessen his control, which will lead to extended failures when he is out of form. Tactically, he has to work on combating off-spinners before the IPL,” Badrinath said in the same show.
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