West Indies had plan for me, but I had to play better than that: Abhishek Sharma
India opener Abhishek Sharma said he had to find ways to counter the West Indies’ plans against him after smashing a 30-ball 69 to power India to a 14-run win in the third T20I here.
India took a 2-1 lead in the five-match series with Abhishek’s quickfire knock, his 108-run stand for the second wicket with Ishan Kishan (37), and Arshdeep Singh’s 3/44 setting up the victory in the third game here on Sunday. Abhishek said the West Indies opening with off-spinner Roston Chase and their field placement on the off side prompted him to explore more scoring options.
“I wouldn’t say it was deliberate, but it was there in my mind that they had a plan against me,” Abhishek told reporters after the match when asked about his off-side strokes.
“(With the) off-spinner bowling against me, it was just a battle between him and me. I gave him respect in the first over because he is bowling really well in this series, so it is just the plan that went pretty well for me as well.”
“…because in the powerplay, I was trying to just get a few runs and they had a plan for me, and I had to play better than that,” said Abhishek, who smacked six fours and five sixes in his innings.
He added, “I don’t think and play deliberately. It just happens when I see the field placement, whenever they have a field placement which allows me to just give myself room and play those shots.”
India restricted the West Indies to 209 for seven after being bowled out for 223. Abhishek said India wanted to be ruthless against the Caribbean side.
“West Indies is such a team that you can never say that the match is now on our side.This was on our mind because we saw in the last match that whichever batsman comes in, (with) the conditions that we have here, it is very easy for them to take the match to their side.”
“So that was in our mind even when we were losing wickets, we were saying that we would be ruthless thereon and we will not give them a single chance to come back,” he said.
“The way (Shamar) Springer batted, I was really surprised by the way he played those shots; those weren’t easy shots. You have to be ready all the time, (even) if they are at 50/5 as well, I think they have that capability to turn things around for themselves. In that case we were very much prepared this time.”
Abhishek backed his Punjab teammate Naman Dhir, who claimed 2/39, to do well for India in the coming years.
“I’ve seen him from Under-14 days so I know how well he can bowl. You have to just tell him the plan; probably a bowler doesn’t think too much at that moment when he has got hit for two sixes back-to-back.”
“We wanted to delay him a bit and wanted him to just bowl the best ball, that is his off spin. But I think the way he is bowling, he is going to do really well for India in the next few years as well.” Abhishek said he would like to see Kishan more relaxed when he comes out to bat.
“… he doesn’t laugh that easily while batting so I have to (first) make him laugh and relax him a little because he likes to be in that zone when he comes to bat,” Abhishek said.
