India captain Suryakumar Yadav downplayed worries about Abhishek Sharma’s performance, stating that the team management is not taking his slump too seriously. Speaking to the press in Ahmedabad the night before India’s Super 8 match against South Africa, Suryakumar backed Abhishek to perform well and be a vital member of the team during this T20 World Cup 2026 phase. Abhishek Sharma has had a miserable tournament run, missing one of India’s four group-stage games because of a stomach-related illness. He has not yet opened his account after registering ducks in all three games.
“Those who worry about Abhishek Sharma form, I worry about them: ‘Why do you worry so much about his form?’. I am worrying about the teams that will face him now, because he hasn’t scored yet,” Suryakumar said on Saturday, February 21.
“The rest of the answer you know, you know what happens when he goes big. It happens, it’s a team sport. It’s the team’s requirement that he plays according to his identity. He is trying to do that. If it clicks, great. If it doesn’t, we are there to cover for him. Last year, he covered for us. This time, let us do it.”
On February 22, India will play South Africa in the first of their three Super 8 games in Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium. Despite his lean patch, Abhishek is expected to stay in the starting lineup. A day after bowling coach Morne Morkel stated that the team management is not even talking about Abhishek’s tournament performances, Suryakumar showed his unwavering support for the young opener.
“Absolutely no discussion in our team group about that. He is a world-class player. So far in the tournament, luckily, we’ve had other guys standing up with Abhishek not scoring the runs you would like. We are going through a very important phase of the World Cup now, and I’m pretty sure he’s going to deliver,” Morkel said on Friday.
In the T20 World Cup, Abhishek has only encountered eight deliveries thus far. In the opening match of the competition, the Punjab batsman, who played despite being ill, was removed by USA’s Ali Khan. Abhishek returned for the prestigious India vs. Pakistan match in Colombo on February 15 after missing India’s match against Namibia in Delhi due to illness. But in the first over, Salman Ali Agha, a part-time off-spinner, removed him.
Another off-spinner, Aryan Dutt, destroyed Abhishek in India’s final group-stage encounter against the Netherlands in Ahmedabad. India won all four of their group-stage games to go into the Super 8s undefeated, despite Abhishek’s poor play.
A number of onlookers, including commentators, have advised Abhishek to wait before making bold moves. When he attempted to play an audacious hook at a delivery that skidded on and crashed into the stumps against the Netherlands, he lost his leg stump. Abhishek was unable to adapt to the trajectory of Aryan Dutt’s bowling, which came from all over the wicket. Does Abhishek’s right-arm off-spin pose a threat?
“We have played enough cricket to be well-equipped to handle any kind of bowling. We have won four games. We have navigated tough situations,” Suryakumar said.
In his last seven T20I innings, Abhishek has now made five ducks. Even though it is still February, those five ducks are the most an Indian has ever had in a single calendar year in T20Is. The decline has been severe for a batter who was ranked first in the world in T20Is going into the competition and was one of India’s most potent top-order alternatives.
But last year, Abhishek carried the Indian batting lineup, shattering records whenever he wanted, as Suryakumar said. In T20Is in 2025, he amassed an incredible strike rate of 193.46 and amassed 859 runs at an average of 42 in 21 games. Even with Sanju Samson waiting in the wings, his reputation is sure to get him a lengthy rope that he deserves.
“You want me to play him (Samson) in place of Abhishek? In place of Tilak? See, we want to score high also. We are preparing for it,” said the captain when asked if the team management was giving playing Samson a thought.
