India’s T20 World Cup Squad: Can Abhishek Sharma Edge Shubman Gill as Reserve Opener?

Abhishek Sharma is only behind his opening partner Travis Head, who has a mind-boggling strike-rate of 216.00.

Hyderabad: From getting his side of to breathtaking starts to laying the foundation for a big score, young Abhishek Sharma has been in ominous form this season at the IPL. In seven matches, he has already amassed 257 runs at an average of 36.71 and a staggering strike rate of 215.97. With the T20 World Cup round the corner, will he find a spot as the backup opener? He has Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal as competition for that slot.

Abhishek is yet to make his international debut, but on current form, he surely stands a good chance of edging Gill and Jaiswal. The SRH opener is second-best when it comes to strike-rate this season for a minimum of 100 balls faced. He is only behind his opening partner Travis Head, who has a mind-boggling strike-rate of 216.00.

Gill is striking at 146.79, which is surely not bad by any stretch of imagination. But reports suggest that Rohit will be opening the batting with Virat Kohli in the marquee event. There is no confirmation on this, tough. Abhishek also stands a good chance because he is a left-hander. A left-right combination is always preferred at the top.

The Indian squad for the T20 WC is set to be announced soon. The deadline for submission of squads is May 1.

India’s Predicted Squad:

Rohit Sharma (C), Virat Kohli, Shubman Gill/Yashasvi Jaiswal, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (WK), Rinku Singh, Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mayank Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Jitesh Sharma/Sanju Samson (WK), Ravi Bishnoi