India’s bowling coach, Morne Morkel, has stated that there is no anxiety in the team about Abhishek Sharma poor performance in the T20 World Cup 2026. Abhishek has five ducks in his past seven outings, including three straight in the ongoing 20-team event. Morkel, on the other hand, remained optimistic about his chances of making a comeback.
“Absolutely no discussion in our team group about that,” bowling coach Morne Morkel said ahead of India’s Super 8 clash against South Africa. “Abhishek is a world-class player. Luckily, there were guys standing up with Abhishek obviously not scoring the runs he would like. But we’re going through a very important phase of the World Cup now and I’m pretty sure he’s going to deliver.”
“Not so much just for the team, but also for all the viewers watching the game, because he’s entertaining and we love to see that. So, yeah, I’m pretty sure [he’ll turn it around], he’s hitting the ball well in the nets. It’s just a matter of getting that start and getting his innings going.”
Aside from Abhishek’s performance, one of the Indian team’s major concerns has been its poor fielding. Morkel provided insight into this, admitting that the team is working hard to improve that aspect of their game. India dropped nine catches in the tournament’s group stage, ranking second only behind Ireland in this category.
“One thing that we work hard on is our fielding. We know the importance of the catches, wherever we can cut down angles to stop the twos, to stop any boundaries. But catching is definitely going to play a big part now in the business end of the tournament.
“Unfortunately, no catch is an easy catch, and the boys are putting the yards in and catching a lot of balls. But that’s definitely one of our key focus points, is to really even go for those 50-50 ones, because we know how that can swing and break the momentum of a batting innings,”
When asked about the team composition for the South Africa match in Ahmedabad, Morkel predicted that the Indian attack would look different come Sunday.
“Yeah, definitely we discuss options in terms of how we’re going to approach our bowling innings against different teams. I think it’s important to stay awake and to keep on looking for ways that we can strike better and where we can have guys attacking specific batters.”
Morkel also praised Shivam Dube for his development as an all-rounder.
“With Shivam, I think any bowler, we like confidence. You want to feel the backing. This journey started almost more than a year ago, when we gave him the responsibility to bowl for us in Dubai (in the Asia Cup) and to bowl the first over. I think as soon as you feel that environment, you feel that you get backed by, first, the captain, the coach and the staff.”
“From there, life becomes a little bit easier. You don’t have to try and prove yourself. You don’t have to try too hard. He’s got a lot of skill with the ball, with variations. When I catch him, he hits the mitt quite hard. For him, it was just a matter of building that confidence and polishing up when to use his variations. I think he has a very good understanding of conditions. He can read the conditions very well. As a power-hitter himself, he will work out what is the hardest and toughest ball to bowl.
“I think having that game sense and just giving him the backing, and to say, ‘Listen, if you go for the boundary, it’s okay. You have a potential guy that can pick up that wicket fast.’ He can bring us control with the ball in terms of his execution. It’s very good. We slowly just developed that and gave him the confidence. There were some times where I could see him walking off the field disappointed at not having a bowl.”
