How oppositions discovered Abhishek Sharma's Kryptonite in T20 World Cup

Who would have thought that the No 1 batter in T20Is would go runless in the group stages of the World Cup? Yet that has been the story of India's ace opener Abhishek Sharma, who was dismissed for a duck for the third time in the tournament on Wednesday.

Aryan Dutt of the Netherlands clean-bowled Sharma in the third ball of the innings in Ahmedabad after India won the toss. Like the USA's Ali Khan and Pakistan's Salman Ali Agha, lanky Dutch off-spinner Dutt exploited a weakness in Sharma's batting early in his innings. On all three occasions, Sharma lost his wicket to back-of-length deliveries pitched on middle and off.

Sharma's dismissals couldn't be attributed to a lack of form, though, as is the case with Sanju Samson, who has appeared nervous since returning to India's opener role in the New Zealand series that preceded the World Cup.

In Sharma's case, it is more like a football game where a team catches the opposition by surprise with a goal from a smartly choreographed corner kick. You get one chance to try it, and better not miss because when he finds his rhythm, Sharma is one of the most destructive opening batters in the world, which is clear from his position at the top of the ICC rankings for men's T20I batters, ahead of England's Phil Salt and Sri Lanka's Pathum Nissanka.

Yet, for most aggressive T20 openers like Sharma, who score the bulk of their runs in the powerplay, dot balls are the Kryptonite. On the evidence of his early dismissals in the World Cup, it is safe to say that the opposition teams have figured out a deadly combination of pressure and precision bowling to get the prized wicket of Sharma. They devised a strategy targeting Sharma's tendency not to waste deliveries in the powerplay.

Against the USA, which was India's opener in the event, Sharma came on strike in the eighth ball of the innings. Saurabh Netravalkar had delivered a tidy 7-run first over to Ishan Kishan that included four dot balls. By the time he came on strike, India were on 8 runs off 8 balls, and that is not a welcoming proposition for batters with big egos. So, Sharma swung wildly at a Khan delivery outside off, only to hit straight to the sweeper, perfectly positioned for the shot.

It was the same against Pakistan. Kishan got off strike with a single on the second ball, but Agha amplified the pressure with four dot balls, forcing Sharma to go big on a back-of-a-length delivery, only to be caught at mid-on. Again, it was the pressure of two dot balls that ended his innings against the Dutch.

Perhaps Sharma should have listened to Sunil Gavaskar's wisdom. "My unsolicited advice to Abhishek Sharma is just knock a single first. That's it. Then you can start banging after that. But just knock a single, take a quick single where your legs move quickly, and then go on," Gavaskar told Sports Today.