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Abhishek Sharma plays ag shot in the match against New Zealand in Nagpur (Express Photo by Dhananjay Khedkar)
India opener Abhishek Sharma was in hot form yet again, just missing out on his 3rd T20I century by 16 runs when he top-scored with 84 runs against New Zealand in the 1st T20I match on Wednesday. Abhishek, who got to 5000 runs in the match, slammed 8 sixes and 5 fours in the innings which played a pivotal part in helping India defeat the Kiwis by 48 runs.
In the post-match presentation, Abhishek who was adjudged the player of the match opened up about his batting style, revealing that while he just has a few shots that he practices constantly in order to get the execution right in the match.
“I feel if you watch videos or if you watch your batting videos as well, you get an idea that where the ball is gonna, you know, planning to bowl you or maybe where I’m gonna play my shots. 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 gonna practice a lot about that and I’ll just execute it,” he said.
He also said that he does not feel that his six-hitting strategy is a high-risk one.
“I don’t feel it’s a high risk, but for me, it’s, I feel this is my, I wouldn’t say it’s my comfort zone, but it’s like I’ve always wanted to be in first because they want to give you the first six overs and that’s what I’ve been practicing before the nets as well. And that was always in my mind if I do because if you see all the bowlers, all the main bowlers and you know, from all the teams, they bowl first, second, three overs probably. And if I get scores in the first three, four overs, then, you know, we have always got the upper hand,” he said.
In the match, apart from Abhishek, Rinku Singh (44 not out off 20 balls), Suryakumar Yadav (32 off 22 balls), Hardik Pandya (25 off 16 balls) also chipped in with useful contributions as India posted a massive 238 for seven after being asked to take first strike.
In reply, NZ managed 190 for 7 in 20 overs with Glenn Phillips making a 40-ball 78 and Mark Chapman scoring a 39.
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For India, Varun Chakaravarthy (2/37) and Shivam Dube (2/28) claimed two wickets each, while Arshdeep Singh (1/31), Hardik Pandya (1/20) and Axar Patel (1/42) were also among wickets.
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