India's Abhishek Sharma reacts as he walks off the field after losing his wicket during the T20 World Cup cricket semi-final match between India and England in Mumbai, India, Thursday, March 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)
With Abhishek Sharma failing to fire for India in the T20 World Cup thus far, there have been numerous calls to drop him from the playing XI when India take on New Zealand in the summit clash on Sunday. However, the 25-year-old has the backing of former World Cup winning captain Kapil Dev who is of the opinion that Abhishek should stay put in the team against the Kiwis at Ahmedabad.
“Just believe in your team and the management should believe in the player. And Abhishek should believe in himself that ‘I can perform and I will perform’. Still one game is there – the final,” Kapil said.
Abhishek has had a T20 World Cup to forget, having scored just one half century– against Zimbabwe– while getting out for 3 back to back ducks in the first three matches of the tournament. In the semifinal against England on Thursday, he managed just 9 runs. India, however, defeated England by just seven runs even after posting a mammoth 253. Jacob Bethell (105 off 48 balls) and Will Jacks (35 off 20 balls) almost dragged England home but with disciplined bowling India managed to cling on to the win.
“I didn’t think that it would become this difficult, when India score 250-plus, it was a brilliant game. Yes, India won, congratulations to them, but in the end it was cricket’s win. I enjoyed it a lot, not as a bowler though,” he said.
Kapil also heaped praise on Jasprit Bumnrah’s whose ice cold bowling in the 18th over alleviated the pressure off India as they ultimately got over the line. Kapil was also impressed by Sanju Samson’s brilliant 89-run innings that helped India post such a daunting total after batting first.
“Bumrah is the Number one bowler in the world, he is the best. Why is he the best? Because he delivers under pressure and the way he bowls. He deserves all the respect from everybody,” he said.
“He (Sanju) is a brilliant cricketer, a big player can go out of target sometime, what happened to Abhishek, but if they are big, they are big and they will come back. And Sanju really played wonderful cricket in the last two games,” he added.
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