IND vs SA T20I: Without Abhishek Sharma, India’s top-order strike rate dips from 147.79 to 124.20 – one of weakest Top 4 in the world

Abhishek Sharma

The Gambhir-coached side is staring at the final laps of the World Cup rehearsal with trepidation, with their averages, minus Abhishek, taking a hit by 20 runs (23.90) across 20 games.

It is a practice the current India head coach Gautam Gambhir despises, but for the swelling run crisis among the top-order faculty, his team had to turn to their newfound ‘superstar’ to allay fears before the penultimate T20I against South Africa in Lucknow.

Captain Suryakumar Yadav and his deputy, Shubman Gill, are in a diabolical rut. The senior has not strummed his blade with sustained quality for nearly the entire year. Meanwhile, the under-fire vice-captain, has not lasted long enough to relay the niceties of his IPL template and provide context to India’s sudden anchor-accumulator fallback at the top.