The Indian opening pair of Abhishek Sharma and Ishan Kishan are in red-hot form ahead of the tournament, and Dale Steyn has some advise for the bowlers.
For any team who will face India in the upcoming T20 World Cup 2026, one of the major hurdles which they will have to plan against will be the Indian openers. However, former South African speedster Dale Steyn might just have made their jobs a bit easier.
Both Abhishek Sharma and Ishan Kishan have run riot with the bat in all their recent fixtures, scoring in excess of 200 consistently. The Men in Blue have upped the ante, and have decided to play the fearless brand of cricket – which has so far worked in their favour.
The 42-year-old South African pacer took to his social media account to suggest that the slower deliveries might work well against the Indian openers, who tend to waste no time in taking the bowlers to the cleaners right from ball one.
Taking the pace off the delivery will enable the Indian openers to generate their strength for dispatching the delivery towards the boundary, and that is where an opportunity might present itself for the fielding side. However, a balance of slower deliveries and stock balls would be the right combination to go with for the bowlers.
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First things first, India have a problem to solve at the top of the order, which will be their only headache ahead of the coveted tournament. The fact that Sanju Samson has not been able to perform in any of the recent opportunities given to him would force the Indians to look the Ishan Kishan way.
With that being said, both Ishan Kishan and Abhishek Sharma are absolute destructors at the top of the order. In the recent five-match T20I series, Abhishek and Kishan played with strike-rates of 249.31 & 231.18 respectively – which threw the bowlers away.
The advice that Dale Steyn has presented bowlers with might work to break the momentum of the batters, and force them into a shot which they do not want to play. The only way to get the Indian openers out, would be through their attacking game. These are not the players who would let a heap of dot balls build pressure on themselves.
For a team to crack the code against the Indians, one of the first targets would be to stop the flow of runs at the top. The Men in Blue often get themselves off to blazing starts, which puts pressure back on the fielding side.
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