“What I have picked up of late with Abhishek is…” - Faf du Plessis reveals the reason behind Abhishek Sharma’s struggles in T20 WC 2026

Former South African captain Faf du Plessis has backed the dashing Indian opener Abhishek Sharma to have an amazing innings in the ICC T20 World Cup 2026, which is currently underway in India and Sri Lanka

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For the unversed, Sharma started off the World Cup with a golden duck against the USA. Later, he got out for a four-ball duck against Pakistan. Subsequently, he suffered a three-ball duck against the Netherlands in the team’s last group stage clash.

Moreover, in the Super8 clash against South Africa, Sharma’s innings looked imbalanced despite scoring 15 runs off 12 balls with two fours and a six. Speaking exclusively on ESPNcricinfo, Faf du Plessis clarified that bowlers are aiming to bowl slower balls at the dashing batter to deceive him.

"Tactically, the game has got so smart with analysts and the way that they are trying to get you out. What I have picked up of late with Abhishek is people are now putting a deep point out and a deep extra cover out because he is so good at hitting the ball through the offside," Faf du Plessis said on ESPNcricinfo Timeout.

"The other thing I have picked up is that teams are bowling a lot of slower balls at him, and it is because he has such a beautiful swing. What you are trying to do with guys that have such a long swing is you are trying to take pace off the ball. So once again, his decision is, how do I counter guys when they are bowling it slow?" he said.

Additionally, Faf also shared valuable advice on how he would attack the slower balls if he were Abhishek Sharma. Furthermore, he also backed the dashing batter to come out stronger and put up a show at some point in time in the ongoing showpiece event.

"For me, what I try to do when guys are bowling slower balls at me, I either try to come down the wicket because you want to generate pace to hit the ball, or you try to hang back and set for that slower ball so that your hands are never in front of you. I am not going to try to talk to Abhishek about batting. You know exactly what to do, but I can see teams are bowling a lot of slower balls at him," he added.

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"He has been unbelievable the last two-three years in the IPL. He whacks bowling attacks all over the ground. He is the newer generation of T20 cricketer who doesn't actually have to worry about defence. He has got so many attacking options. The key for him now is, how do you keep the noise out? How do you make sure you focus on your strengths, your game, and keep your mind as clear as possible? Because there is a lot of noise going on when a player is in this state. I have got no doubt, give him a couple more innings, the youngster will come through, and he will have an amazing innings somewhere in this World Cup," he concluded.

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