Anil Kumble Advises Abhishek Sharma To Channel Virender Sehwag's Unbridled Aggression With Balanced Approach

IPL 2026: Former India captain and coach Anil Kumble advised Abhishek Sharma to emulate Virender Sehwag's fearless approach to the game, striking a delicate balance between unbridled aggression and the ability to occupy the crease.

The 25-year-old batter has been a potent force at the top of the order, always throwing his team into contention with his audacious batting style.

"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,” Kumble said on JioStar.

"But 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 a 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," the former India player said.

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"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,” said.

Abhishek's lacklustre T20 World Cup campaign will be overlooked as he gears up for a fresh start with Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026, commencing March 28.

"That's what you need in the T20 format. Maybe that's the kind of maturity you will see in Abhishek this season, which SRH will be hoping for," he added.

Former South Africa skipper AB de Villiers echoed Kumble's sentiments, emphasising the need for Abhishek to string together consistent performances.

"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,” AB de Villiers said.

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"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,” he added.