Abhishek Sharma went out to bat with a strong intent and happy recollections of the Wankhede two hours into the Indian team’s primary net session ahead of the T20 World Cup semifinal in Mumbai.
Abhishek’s 54-ball 135 against England, India’s opponents in the crucial semifinal on Thursday, was precisely a year ago. The southpaw’s 55 against Zimbabwe stopped his fruitless tournament run, but he is still far from his aggressive best.
Abhishek rolled his arm over a little before strolling into the nets while batting coach Sitanshu Kotak kept a close eye on him.
Abhishek started his session against the spinners after Kotak gave the order to a flurry of net bowlers. Given his difficulties with the ball spinning away from him, it was off-spin straightaway.
Arshdeep Singh and a leg-spinner also bowled in tandem. After a long hitting session, Tilak Varma also rolled his arm over for Abhishek to drill against off-spin.
The lunar eclipse caused the practice to be delayed by an hour, but all fifteen squad members showed up. Abhishek was accompanied by head coach Gautam Gambhir throughout the warm-up, and the players appeared to be in a good mood.
Two days prior to the crucial match, the surface also garnered a lot of attention due to its thick layer of grass, which will probably be significantly shaved on game day. Arshdeep Singh’s string of toe-crushing yorkers was one of the session’s highlights.
Hardik Pandya batted for over two hours and was primarily involved in range hitting. Batting for over an hour, players like Tilak and Ishan Kishan faced equal amounts of pace and spin. Tilak cleared the straight boundary off Varun Chakaravarthy and used slog sweeps against Kuldeep Yadav.
In order to get ready for the big game, lead pacer Jasprit Bumrah favored a spot bowling practice.
After selecting Sanju Samson at the top of the order alongside Abhishek in the previous two games to break the monotony of a left-handed top three, India is unlikely to change their starting eleven.
