Abhishek Sharma is not only leading the way when it comes to how openers should bat in T20 cricket but also what they should be doing in the lead-up to games. "I feel I pretty much manifested this innings and it happened," he said after scoring a 35-ball century that helped India chase down a target of 199 in 13.2 overs.
Abhishek has always been known for his ability to score quick runs. He has the highest strike rate in T20I history - 196.83 - for any batter with a minimum of 500 runs. He is known for hitting out from ball and for his free-flowing bat-swing on both sides of the wicket. All of this is the result of how, and how much, he practices.
"Obviously, I feel it's not that, that easy, but it's just the preparation behind the scenes, I would say," Abhishek said at the post-match presentation, "Special mention to our coaches because the side-arms, we've been playing them a lot. And it's just, I feel that preparation is really important as a batter. If you see the [pitch] conditions and the [ground] dimensions, that's always in your mind and then you have to keep the bowlers also in your mind and play the shots according to the ball. And that's all I do. We had a good practise session yesterday and I just wanted to utilise it and that's what I did."
India went 3-0 up in the five-match series against New Zealand on Tuesday. Up until the halfway point, the talk was about how their bowlers had utilised the shape of the ground in Wellington - long straight boundary, short square boundaries - to keep the opposition to a manageable total. Turns out Abhishek had been keeping notes: 'When we were fielding, we were absorbing the pitch a bit. There was a bit extra bounce, but I feel the dimensions of the ground, we will use the powerplay and we can use the pace as well [to target the short square boundary]. So that was the easy plan."
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi was handed his preferred spot at the top of the order and he thrived, hitting the first ball of the chase for four. He made 45 off 19 balls as India produced the best powerplay batting performance in T20I history (118 runs in six overs)
"Then obviously, the way he started the first over, Vaibhav, I think that was really special," Abhishek said. "That was the plan for us. Get the momentum for the team and then just keep going."