T20 World Cup 2026: Abhishek Sharma skips optional practice session amid poor form

AHMEDABAD, February 21: India opener Abhishek Sharma was nowhere to be seen during India’s optional practice session ahead of the Super Eights encounter against South Africa at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Sunday, February 22. However, he was not the only guy absent at the gigantic setting in Motera. Rinku Singh, Shivam Dube, and Ishan Kishan, Abhishek’s opening partner, were the only men facing mostly spinners in the nets today.

Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav was also present on the field but only observed his men tonk the ball hard from close quarters alongside head coach Gautam Gambhir while also having an intense discussion with batting coach Sitanshu Kotak. Suryakumar also addressed the reporters at the venue at the end of the practice session, opening up on a number of topics, including Abhishek’s form, the hottest topic at this point of time.

“When he scores a run, you have seen what happens. It happens, it’s a team sport, it keeps going on. Now the team has a requirement that the boy should play with his identity. So he is trying to play. If it happens, then it’s fine, if it doesn’t, then we are there to cover. Last year he covered for us, now we will cover for him,” Suryakumar said.

Only a handful of members practised, with Kuldeep Yadav and Washington Sundar being the spinners. The Indian team also faced the likes of local bowlers from Gujarat. A left-armer gave the Indians enough balls to prepare themselves to face George Linde and Keshav Maharaj on Sunday. An off-spinner was seen rolling his arm over, too, which probably was for the prep against Aiden Markram.

Kuldeep, whose place in the line-up for tomorrow’s game is not certain, was also seen batting in the nets for a decent amount of time. Meanwhile, Sanju Samson, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, and Axar Patel were the batting options who missed the nets. Sundar did not bat despite being there. It is noteworthy to mention that Samson did have a good session on Friday but chose to skip the following one.

On the form of India’s spin attack, Suryakumar is confident that they have been extremely impressive so far, and the same must continue for the upcoming clash as well. He has set a few plans, which need the right execution to have an edge over the Proteas in their first game of the Super Eights.

The spinners have been doing well. I think the spinners have done really well against almost all the oppositions which we have played till now. So I can’t say we’ll have an edge because it’s a new game, a fresh start; you have to start from zero. But yeah, definitely some good plans. I think on the given day, plans and execution have to be coming together on the page. So if that comes together, we’ll definitely have an edge.

The defending champions will be hoping to start off the Group 1 campaign with a win, while their finalists from the previous edition will come fully prepared for the challenge.