Jarrod Kimber, Saurabh Somani
Abhishek Sharma has always started with a bang. On Under-19 debut for Punjab, he hit a century in the Vinoo Mankad Trophy, BCCI’s national level 50-overs competition for Under-19 cricketers.
When he made his first-class debut, he hit 94 from No.8, having come in at 274 for 6 after the opposition had piled on 729 for 8 declared. His IPL debut was also the first time he was playing senior-level T20 cricket, and he reeled off a stunning 46* off 19 balls against Royal Challengers Bangalore, back in IPL 2018.
He was a precocious 17-year-old then, coming fresh off an Under-19 World Cup triumph. His teammates in that campaign included captain Prithvi Shaw, vice-captain Shubman Gill, Riyan Parag and Arshdeep Singh – and was coached by Rahul Dravid. He even made an impact in his first game of that U19 World Cup, smashing 23 off 14 against Australia U19, and then taking the wicket of captain Jason Sangha to return 1 for 33 in seven overs.
The common thread linking all those exploits on debut is that Abhishek hasn’t always sustained that tempo. While the aforementioned teammates went on to greater glory, Abhishek had to bide his time. His blaze of glory arrivals have resembled streaking comets. Until IPL 2024, that is. This year, he has given literal meaning to starting explosively.
The bare numbers say he’s got 401 runs in 12 innings, striking at 206. He’s also averaging over 36. It’s been a remarkable exhibition of… well you can’t call it ‘batting’ in any old-school sense of the word. But you can’t even call it ‘hitting’ because Abhishek is mostly all languid elegance when he’s dispatching the ball everywhere. He’s not muscling it. We’ll stick to batting, because of his exquisite timing.
In IPL 2024, it’s almost impossible to refer to Abhishek without adding his opening partner, Travis Head. And vice-versa. They’re both conjoined. The depth of their impact can be gauged by pop culture bestowing them the portmanteau ‘Travishek’ like a celebrity pair. But it’s worth examining Abhishek’s solo impact in that power couple. Head is already an established international star, and was almost expected to do this sort of thing, though not quite at this level. Abhishek is as yet uncapped, although that is bound to change soon.
What has allowed Travishek to become a phenomenon is that both batters are equally aggressive, both punish pace and spin alike, both are in form – and consequently as a pair, they’ve helped change perceptions of what is possible in T20 cricket. The hangover from older formats meant that people didn’t often think of scenarios where both batters are going hell for leather. If one was doing it, the accepted wisdom has been that the other keep one end secure. While that may be the best tactic in longer formats, Abhishek and Head have blown that to smithereens in T20s.
Abhishek has played only 195 balls in his 12 innings at bat in IPL 2024 so far. That’s about 16 balls per innings on average. Before this tournament, no one would have thought an opener facing only 16 balls on average could have any positive impact for his team, let alone the kind of shockwaves Abhishek has generated. But Abhishek is part of the future. He’s shown what is possible with short-innings openers. There was a smattering of those earlier, but they faded. Abhishek has played the kinds of innings that can end a game in 20 balls at the top. Why have someone play 50 balls to keep you in the game, if you can finish an opposition in 20?
To get a sense of how good he’s been, here is how batters have done in the powerplay this IPL, in terms of true average and true strike rate.
Abhishek takes slightly longer than par to get dismissed, but he’s scoring at far above par. Head, of course, is in a league by himself, but Abhishek has been at Jake Fraser-McGurk levels.
This year he has consistently batted in the top order for Sunrisers Hyderabad, which has doubtless made a difference. The top of the order has been his natural home in domestic cricket for Punjab, but in the IPL, he’s travelled up and down batting spots. But despite previously inconsistent returns – driven in part by batting lower down the order – his ability has never been in question. Comparing this year’s performance to previous IPLs shows how it’s all clicked for him.
His previous best IPL season was in 2022. He was dismissed less often than expected and scored quicker than expected. The trade-off in 2024 is that he’s been dismissed marginally more often than expected – but in return for taking that extra risk, the reward is immense: he’s been scoring at unprecedentedly quick rates.
Abhishek’s strike rates against different bowling types illustrate this further.
He gets out more often than expected to pace (which is nicely complemented by Head being above average against pace), but he’s uniformly rapid against all types of bowling. His devastating form has meant that teams haven’t had the courage to bowl a left-arm spinner to him yet. At the best of times, a left-arm spinner to a big-hitting left-hand batter is a poor match-up. For opposing captains, this is far from the best of times.
The Abhishek annihilation against spin of all types is captured further in this chart.
Whether the ball is spinning into him or away from him, Abhishek has been smashing it like no other batter this IPL. Better than Head, Heinrich Klaasen and Tristan Stubbs. Better than Rajat Patidar. These batters are the standouts for quick-scoring against spin this IPL. Abhishek is a standout in that group of standouts.
Because he’s made his debut so young, it’s easy to forget that Abhishek is still only 23 years old. He has been mentored by Yuvraj Singh since the past few years, and when Brian Lara was the batting coach of SRH, Abhishek developed a special rapport with the king of left-hand batters.
It has all come together this year. The guidance of Yuvraj, the nous gleaned from Lara, the opportunity at the top of the order for SRH, and the form – they’re all in sync. Which is why, when Abhishek Sharma has started with a bang in IPL 2024, he’s made it a big one.
True stats by Varun Alvakonda (as of May 9, 2024)
