Ex-India Cricketer Breaks Down the Key to Abhishek Sharma's Fifty vs Zimbabwe In T20 World Cup Super 8

Former Indian batting coach Sanjay Bangar shed light on what India star opener and No.1 T20 batter Abhishek Sharma did better against Zimbabwe after a poor start to the ongoing T20 World Cup.

Bangar praised Sharma's improved technique, noting he played more straight-bat shots and showed respect to bowlers against Zimbabwe and believes Sharma's strength is hitting through the off-side, particularly over covers and mid-off.

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Sharma, who struggled to open his account in the initial matches of the ongoing T20 WC, got some runs under his belt against Zimbabwe in India's Super 8 match with a fifty on Thursday.

While speaking on JioHotstar, Sanjay Bangar said, “A couple of Abhishek Sharma's dismissals came when he was trying to play horizontal-bat shots at the start of his innings, when the ball was new. That was not the case when he began playing with a much straighter bat. Against Zimbabwe, he showed some respect to the bowlers as well and played the ball straight down the line. As a result, he gave himself a good chance to succeed. One of his strongest suits is hitting through the off-side because not many players, when they are looking to hit sixes, favour that side. So, if you can take pace off the ball, he can get into trouble. But if you don't take pace off and bowl in that fourth-stump corridor, he will score freely over covers or mid-off, where he is scoring most of his runs.”

Bangar also stressed India breaking the left-hander trio at the top with the addition of Sanju Samson. The Indian team opted to go in with a right-left combination to open the innings against Zimbabwe. Sharma and Samson opened the innings while Ishan Kishan came at No.3.

Banger felt that Samson was very proactive and moved a lot in the crease, which created run-scoring opportunities for him that led India to have a good start in the power-play. Banger also highlighted that the way Samson played in the power-play gave Abhishek Sharma time to settle in at the crease.

"I thought Sanju Samson was very proactive and moved a lot in the crease. Because of that, he created run-scoring opportunities and, in that sense, gave India the start they were looking for. India was averaging less than 10 in terms of opening partnership in the four or five games they had played before the Zimbabwe match. So, the way he played allowed Abhishek time to settle in, and by then India had already gotten off to a good start. With a right-hander at the top, India are depriving the opposition of the opportunity to use off-spin as much," he added.

India took some time to find the right balance, but India appears to have finally locked in their best batting mix at the ICC Men's T20 World Cup.

It was the new-look opening pair of Sharma (55) and Samson (24) that did the damage during the early overs, with Kishan (38), Suryakumar Yadav (33), Hardik Pandya (50*) and Tilak Varma (44*) all getting in on the act as India posted the highest score of the T20 World Cup so far (256/4) and the second biggest in the tournament's history against Zimbabwe on Thursday in Chennai.

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India got contributions from all of their top six batters as they put Zimbabwe to the sword in Chennai on Thursday, setting up a cut-throat clash against the West Indies at Eden Gardens that will determine who claims the final spot in the knockout stages in Kolkata on March 1.