Former Indian opening batter and commentator Aakash Chopra reckoned that the Indian dashing opener Abhishek Sharma had a slightly below-par series against the West Indies at home.
Speaking on Star Sports, Chopra expressed disappointment at Sharma not performing to his standards in the five-match T20I series. Notably, Sharma amassed 145 runs at an average of 29 in five innings at a strike rate of 181.25.
“Actually, it was a slightly below-par series because in the first two games he was dismissed almost identically. Roston Chase came, he got a little start for sure, but got out both times. He was batting extremely well in Indore, and it seemed like a hundred was loading in that innings, but he got on 69 there,” Chopra said.
“Then he looked slightly disheveled in the last match when he got less strike, and let’s discount whatever happened today (In Bengaluru). Slightly below par based on his standards. However, is it acceptable? Definitely it is, because whoever runs at a strike rate of 200 will surely fall,” he added.
On the other hand, discarded leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal, who was also part of the discussion, noted that Sharma’s aggressive batting approach often results in him losing his wicket. However, he added that the batter does not have any particular weakness against off-spinners.
“He wouldn’t have scored 2,000 runs if there was a technical problem. All videos are available these days. Everyone will come to know. He has scored runs against off-spin as well. He has a strike rate of around 180 or 200. The brand of cricket he plays, he will play like this only,” Chahal said.
“He attacks every ball once he feels he has gotten set. So he gets out in that, and scores runs as well. I would say there is no technical problem. You get overaggressive at times and miss out sometimes in that. Whether it’s an off-spinner, left-arm wrist-spinner, finger spinner, or it’s a carrom ball, it doesn’t matter to him,” Chahal noted.
