"Would relate him to Virender Sehwag": Anil Kumble on Abhishek Sharma

New Delhi [India], March 19 (ANI): The former India captain and legendary spinner Anil Kumble has compared the batting style of Abhishek Sharma with the former India opener Virender Sehwag ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026.

Abhishek made over 400 runs in the last two seasons, while playing for the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) with a strike rate of around 200.

"I would relate him to someone like Virender Sehwag, because he would look to smash every ball. When he moved from Test cricket to one-day cricket and then to T20 cricket, he realised that he had to pace his innings slightly differently. But Virender Sehwag would still go at a 140-150 strike-rate," Kumble told JioStar.

"That's something Abhishek Sharma needs to start thinking about, saying, 'I've been scoring at a 200 strike rate, expectations are on me, should I now go at a strike rate of 300?' No, you just have to be normal. You have to play a number of balls. If Abhishek Sharma bats 20 balls in an innings, we know he will be close to that 50 mark. We saw that with Sanju Samson, not getting out in the 40s or 50s, but making it count by going deeper, getting to that 85-90 mark. That's what you need in the T20 format. Maybe that's the kind of maturity you will see in Abhishek Sharma this season, which SRH will be hoping for," said Kumble.

Kumble also spoke about what makes a good player a great one. He said, "I think Abhishek Sharma has all the capabilities of becoming a great player. If you look at his short international career, he is already the number one T20 international player. He dominates bowlers and puts them under pressure, but with that kind of intimidating style of batting, it's difficult to maintain consistency, especially from a team's perspective. That's something India managed well with Abhishek, because otherwise it could have been a bit of a disaster. There were other batters who stepped up, and you need that kind of team for him to flourish. That's why he's enjoyed playing for SRH, where he has the freedom to bat freely.

Anil Kumble also shared their thoughts on Abhishek's issues against off-spin.

"One thing he will have adjusted now is his issue against off-spin. In the World Cup, he either got out to off-spinners or had to play them out, which he managed in the final and got that fifty. If you want to become a great player and a consistent one, what's critical is not just what you can do, but what you should not do, and controlling that in your mind will be the key."

SRH squad for IPL 2026 season:

Salil Arora, Travis Head, Ishan Kishan, Heinrich Klaasen, Ravichandran Smaran, Aniket Verma, Abhishek Sharma, Brydon Carse, Harsh Dubey, Jack Edwards, Liam Livingstone, Kamindu Mendis, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Shivam Mavi, Pat Cummins, Amit Kumar, Krains Fuletra, Praful Hinge, Eshan Malinga, Harshal Patel, Sakib Hussain, Shivang Kumar, Onkar Tarmale, Jaydev Unadkat, Zeeshan Ansari. (ANI)

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