Asia Cup 2025: Abhishek Sharma produces lethal mix of belligerence with patience as India’s star man in UAE

For someone averse to the postulates and theorems of geometry, Abhishek Sharma’s batting is a fun place to start. The arc of his elaborate bat-swing, the parabola of his lofted sixes, the effortless glide along the X and Y axes from the crease, all merge into a spectacle that defies logic, the very foundation of mathematics.

And therein lies the intrigue. Abhishek marries the irreconcilable. He tops the run-scoring charts of Asia Cup 2025, averaging 51.50, to go along with an astonishing strike rate of 204.63. He blurs the gulf between consistency and intent, and sprints and strides; he is an action hero and the romantic, all packed into one. He juggles many hats, but the focus is singularly clear: to hit the ball over the ropes.

It starts with a high back lift and ends with a long follow-through, forming a golf-swing-like arc that allows him to impart power into his shots. There is a full extension of his arms, and quick hands, and he holds the pose for good effect after essaying a lofted drive or a swivel-pull. He is geometrically perfect without being staccato. He is a true-blue modern-age T20 hitter without the antics of the scoop or the ramp; a purist of a disruptive format.

And yet, Abhishek is not stubborn in his ways. His exaggerated back lift is not non-negotiable. It can be customised thanks to acute game awareness and skill. In the sixth over of India’s innings against Sri Lanka, Abhishek thumped a length ball from the slingy Nuwan Thushara for a couple of runs. Anticipating a yorker next ball, he lowered his back lift and dumped the full toss over extra-cover for a four. With a short delivery following up, Abhishek’s back lift was up again, and he pulled the ball to the square-leg boundary to raise a 22-ball fifty, his third on the trot.

In the previous over, Abhishek had manufactured his own lengths and width. He stepped out to a length ball to convert it into almost a half-volley and drive it aerially over long-off for a six. When Chameera tried to cramp him for room by hitting the deck hard, Abhishek shuffled across slightly to line it up and hooked it for a four to fine-leg, before making room on the off-side and slashing another shortish delivery, veering away outside off, over point and to the boundary.

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Even if he commits to stepping out of the crease, he has his options open. He will invariably drive a full ball outside leg-stump through the off-side with ease, but he can also take it on if the delivery is slightly shorter on middle and off by slicing it or going inside-out. He largely uses a top-hand grip and operates with a long handle, which allows him to access different parts of the ground and make split-second decisions.

Though he remains a dominant off-side player, a more open stance has also recently allowed him to access the leg-side more frequently. Of his 309 runs in the ongoing tournament, 134 have come on the leg side, which is a decent split.

One would have to nitpick to find a chink in Abhishek’s armour at the moment. He strikes spin bowling at 194.11, almost at par with his strike rate against pace (213.25). He has largely dispelled the notion of being hurried up by the shorter stuff in this Asia Cup, scoring 32 runs in 10 balls off such deliveries against the pacers without being dismissed. An effortless pull for six off Shaheen Afridi off the first ball of a 172-run chase against Pakistan would hardly suggest Abhishek is wary of the bouncer.

He has been untested by the yorker, but bowlers refrain from going too full, considering his ability to nonchalantly step out of his bunker and take it on the full.

There aren’t too many areas where one can trouble Abhishek, barring a length ball outside or wide outside off-stump, against which his strike rate drops to 126.66 in this tournament. He has also been dismissed once off such a delivery.

Abhishek also offers a small window for bowlers to draw out an error. Especially on slow surfaces, such as in Dubai, he misses and sometimes loses shape trying to hack and hoick initially. His false-shot percentage is 34.2 in his first 10 deliveries, which drops by more than half, to just 16 per cent, after that.

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In fact, Abhishek only gets more menacing after the PowerPlay, with his strike rate surging from 195.22 to 201.93 after the six-over mark. In his 22 T20 International innings, Abhishek has reached the post-PowerPlay period only 10 times. But the frightening thing for bowlers is that he is now entering that phase more often. He has already done so four out of six times in the Asia Cup.

His India captain, Suryakumar Yadav, realises the menace Abhishek can unleash if he bats deeper.

“He is very selfless when it comes to his batting style. As he passes the PowerPlay, he can still bat the same way. But the way he analyses the situation post the PowerPlay, what is required of him, what bowlers are going to bowl. That is a plus-point for him, and he is learning every game. It is very important for him to understand what his role is, how he can bat a little deeper,” Suryakumar said after Abhishek’s blazing 39-ball 74 against Pakistan last Sunday.

The pioneer of intent in the PowerPlay in his days, former Sri Lankan opener Sanath Jayasuriya, also lauded Abhishek for his ability to sustain aggression.

“He is playing his natural game. They [Indian team management] have encouraged him to play his natural game. That is the key. Whenever he needs to slow down a bit, he knows how to slow down. After six overs, if he wants to bat for a longer period, he is playing like that,” the current Sri Lankan coach said.

Abhishek has faced more than 40 deliveries only twice in his T20I career and has gone on to score a century on both occasions. In his last three T20I innings, he has faced more than 30 balls every time. That is a first for Abhishek.

Having been under the tutelage of Yuvraj Singh and then honing his skills with Brian Lara, Abhishek is slowly combining belligerence with patience—a lethal concoction. He is, yet again, reconciling the irreconcilable.

Published on Sep 28, 2025