Abhishek Sharma, the fearless prodigy who took the TATA IPL by storm over the last two seasons, will be hopeful of a good run of form in 2026. AB de Villiers and Anil Kumble shared their thoughts on Abhishek’s issues against off-spin, his inconsistency, the pressure of expectations, and how he can counter these challenges to return to his best.

AB de Villiers urged Abhishek Sharma to overcome challenges mentally:

“He’s 25, not 20 anymore. So, this is definitely the phase where he has to start taking more responsibility. There will be media pressure and people asking him to become more consistent. We know he was a little inconsistent during the T20 World Cup, which was disappointing. He had a good finish in the final, but otherwise, it was a quiet tournament for him. He was erratic at times. He had an unbelievable IPL 2025, scoring close to a 200 strike-rate and averaging in the 30s, which is good for an opening batter scoring over 400 runs in the tournament, but it could have been better. Once again, that word consistency comes to mind. It’s a personal challenge he will have to overcome mentally. Being the number one international T20I batter in the world comes with expectation, and that is the most dangerous word in cricket, when you feel like the whole world is closing in on you, and it’s up to him to fight those mental battles throughout this coming season.”

On tightening his game plan:

“The answer to his success, and to the longevity of his career and consistency, lies in him understanding and respecting different match-ups. A bowler comes on, suppose it’s Bumrah, and the game is on the line. How do you handle that? Do you attack him, or do you respect it and get to the other end? That is where you have to be true to yourself as a batter. You have to feel, ‘There’s a threat here, I’m not comfortable, I’m not going to give it away. I’ll give it a couple of minutes and see if something else comes up.' I think that is the only missing link in his game still. It’s about understanding that sometimes a bowler is going to get it right to you. That’s where he needs to be clever and really believe in his game plan. He will have a blueprint that’s worked for him over the years, and he just has to fine-tune that, believe in it more than ever, and stick to it.”

Anil Kumble spoke about what makes a good player a great one:

“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. 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.”

On Abhishek Sharma extending his stay at the crease:

“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. So, that’s something Abhishek Sharma needs to start thinking about, saying, 'I’ve been scoring at 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.”