Abhishek Nayar recently shared serious worries about how solid India’s opening pair really is. These concerns follow a shaky performance against South Africa in the T20 World Cup 2026. The Super 8 stage leaves no room for error.
However, tactical off-spin tied down Ishan Kishan and Abhishek Sharma during the early powerplay overs. Kishan has maintained a respectable total of 176 runs across five matches. Even so, his recent struggle to rotate strike against the turning ball shows he is becoming a target.
Meanwhile, the top-ranked T20I batter, Abhishek Sharma, is in a massive slump. He has fallen for a duck three times in just four games. This huge gap between his world ranking and his actual scores leaves a hole at the top of the order. Opponents now attack this weakness with total precision.
Abhishek Nayar's advice to Team India's struggling opening combination in the ICC T20 World Cup 2026
Nayar pointed out that the lack of rhythm comes from a basic struggle against finger spinners. These bowlers use the hard seam of the new ball to make it bounce unpredictably. The stitching on the ball makes it snap sideways. So, batters often get stuck in two minds. This leads to soft wickets that slow down the scoring rate.
Looking ahead, the Indian camp must fix these technical flaws before they play the West Indies. In that game, Roston Chase will be a similar threat with his tight off-spin. Nayar insists that the coaches need to have a real, sit-down talk with the two left-handers. They must decide who should take the lead in the first few overs.
"It's going to be a very uncomfortable discussion between Ishan Kishan and Abhishek as to who takes the strike because suddenly he has passed the baton of the zeroes to Ishan Kishan, someone who was in prime form. But this is a problem for India. There is definitely going to be a discussion about how they can overcome an off-spinner bowling to them because, keep in mind, when they take on the West Indies as well, Roston Chase is going to bowl in the powerplay to them.
So they will want to come back with better plans. With the newer ball, when you hit the seam at times as a finger spinner, you can get that extra bounce, and that's the tricky part. If it's slightly slower in the air, like we saw there, and the ball hits the seam and deviates even a bit, that's enough in T20 cricket to get you out because it creates doubt and can earn you a wicket," Nayar said.
If the players do not adjust to the slower pace through the air, India's title hopes could end early. The team need a clear change in plans. They must ensure predictable matchups do not take out their best batters during those crucial first six overs.
