Going hard at hard lengths: How Abhishek Sharma unlocked a different dimension in the England T20Is

Before the start of the India vs England T20Is, Abhishek Sharma might have been on shaky ground. In 11 innings in T20I cricket, his run tally stood at 256 – a batting average of 23.3, at a strike rate of 171.8.

In any other international setup, he would be considered a maverick at the top who was inconsistent, but could tear bowling attacks to shreds on his day. But in India, where competition is incredibly fierce, particularly for the opening slot in the shortest format, there was a sense of trepidation. If he had a poor series, it might be time for him to make way.

As it happened, Abhishek exploded into a brilliant run of form. His 279 runs in five innings, scored at 219.7 runs per 100 balls, more than doubled his career aggregate. His four scores of 20 or more were more than he'd managed in international cricket until then (three). The series was bookended on either side by a belligerent 79 in Kolkata, and a breathtaking 135 in Mumbai – the highest score by an Indian in T20 internationals.

The only man to score more runs at a higher strike rate in a single T20I series than Abhishek is Estonia's Sahil Chauhan (297 runs @ 256.0) against Cyprus in June 2024, and the India opener was rewarded on Wednesday with a 38-place jump to No.2 in the ICC's T20I batting rankings.

For those who followed last year's IPL, this series was simply an extension of his extraordinary season for Sunrisers Hyderabad. But there's potentially cause for even more excitement, because it appears Abhishek has been putting his problem-solving skills into practice.

What was Abhishek Sharma's problem that needed solving?

In T20 cricket, the "hard length" is widely accepted as the toughest one to hit – for pace bowlers, this is a length of 6-8 metres from the stumps. The ball isn't always full enough to hit off the front foot, and not short enough to play off the back foot.

Unlike Test cricket, bowlers can't simply settle there. Without much lateral movement, as is the case on most T20 wickets, they then become predictable and easier to hit. But operating in and around that zone can be a solid strategy to keep the flow of runs down.

At any rate, it was a solid strategy against Abhishek. In last year's IPL, amid all the destruction he wrought, he was largely vulnerable against pace bowling on this hard length.

Lowest average against pace bowling on a 6-8m length in IPL 2024 (min. 20 balls faced)

Not only was he out more often on these lengths, but Abhishek did not even have the trade-off of making an impact before he went – his strike rate of 87.2 ranked 49th out of the 55 players to face 20-plus deliveries on the hard length.

Since the end of the IPL, though, there's been a massive change. Where data is available, in India's home T20Is against Bangladesh and England, he has the best average among all batters except Sanju Samson, as well as the best strike rate of anyone to face more than six balls on the same length.

Top 10 run-scorers against pace bowling on a 6-8m length (in IND-BAN 2024 and IND-ENG 2025 T20Is)

What's caused this massive change?

The reason this record is interesting is two-fold. The improved average means Abhishek is getting out less cheaply, but that can be achieved by just blocking these balls. Perhaps more significantly, he's combined that with what a massive improvement in strike rate, suggesting he's found a repeatable way to score off the pacers' hard length – at a level well above his teammates and opponents.

The biggest shift in Abhishek's batting that is visible in the data is when he hits the ball (or rather, where).

On the 6-8m length, as well as the "back of a length" 8-10m range, Abhishek has been hitting the ball from closer to the batting crease. This alone may not mean much. It is possibly an indication, though, that he is playing the ball slightly later, the way coaches advise when teaching traditional batting.

But before exploring that, there's another factor to consider – speed.

Quicker deliveries, naturally, travel a larger distance in the same amount of time compared to slower ones. This means batters will always connect with the ball closer to the crease against those balls than others.

In the England series, Abhishek faced a significant number of deliveries from Jofra Archer, Mark Wood and Jamie Overton – all capable of clocking over 140 kph regularly (the former two over 150 kph).

So, it is possible that him playing closer to the crease might just be a factor of facing quicker bowling. Fortunately, we can take this into account. Plotting his interception points against bowlers' release speeds tells quite a tale.

Compared to the most recent IPL in particular, Abhishek has largely been meeting the ball later across different ranges of speeds (as well as lengths). This, crucially, means what we observed previously was not just down to him facing quicker bowlers.

Has Abhishek made any changes to his batting?

Not significantly, but a minor tweak may have helped him unlock this new gear to his hitting. His fundamental problem had been the indecision caused by the 6-8m length – which balls to play off the front foot, and which ones off the back foot.

In order to 'defuse' this uncertainty, Abhishek's counter has been to turn that length into a more decisive one, where he knows how to play a delivery that lands there.

Read more: Abhishek Sharma's marriage of technique and tempo makes him the dream T20 opener

He's done this by incorporating a significant back foot trigger, since the end of the IPL. It was present through that season, but often went missing from time to time, perhaps as Abhishek tried to get used to it. Not only could this effectively turn good length deliveries into short ones, but it could also give him an extra fraction of a second to play his shots against high pace, on any length.

Observe the following comparison, between two shots, both off the front foot. The second, from the fifth India-England T20I was an overpitched delivery from Mark Wood – fuller than the first one from Rishi Dhawan in the IPL, which bounces to about waist-high.

In the first shot, his heel leaves the ground in the first shot as he tries to swivel. But apart from that, the position of his back foot in the two shots is different. In this one, it's almost level with the crease.

Somewhat counter-intuitively, Abhishek is much further back in his crease for the second shot, a delivery that is actually fuller. This is because he's made the big backwards step before the ball is bowled.

What are the pitfalls of this method?

No technique, batting or bowling, is ever perfect and this is no different. Abhishek is now heavily pre-meditating how he's going to tackle each delivery, always a dangerous game. Certain players can pull this off incredibly well, but it can also go horribly wrong.

But what else Abhishek is doing well is almost thinking like a bowler – throwing in variations from time to time, to ensure bowlers can't simply get one over on him by pushing the length up as he moves back.

Also read: Already on a roll, Varun Chakravarthy's List A numbers suggest ODI success might not be far too

The following couple of clips are from the same match, against the same bowler, with the same angle and even in the same over. Abhishek pre-meditates on both occasions.

To the first ball, he takes the big step back, and to the second jumps out at Jofra Archer – both movements starting before the ball is even released. As a result, he gets into two wildly different positions against similar deliveries (the latter is a touch fuller), by the time it's delivered.

If the backwards movement helps convert an uncomfortable length into a comfortable one, the advancement almost takes length out of the equation. This is because Abhishek makes sure to come down the wicket at an angle – away from the stumps, to open up the off-side. That creates room and width, and then irrespective of the length he can throw his hands at the ball.

His success when coming down the wicket will depend on him the stillness of his head, and his hand-eye coordination. It comes off quite regularly thanks to the work he's put in on his bat swing with mentor Yuvraj Singh, and following golfing advice from Brian Lara. It's still risky though, and can land him in trouble if he tries to employ that on the regular.

Read more: If everyone is available, what is India's first-choice T20I XI?

What could trouble Abhishek, with this pre-meditation, is intelligent changes of pace. Slower bouncers, in particular, might be the primary type of delivery he needs to watch out for. Those likely won't have the speed to cross the boundary if he charges and throws his hands at the ball, or if he tries to hit it off an almost crouching position from deep in the crease.

It'll be a while before India play another T20 international, and Abhishek is almost certainly not going to play other formats internationally at this point of his career. The next high-profile platform for him will be the 2025 IPL – if he's able to keep up this level of improvement, it's dizzying to think of what could come.

Image/footage credit: Hotstar & IPLT20.com

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