We have to dominate – Abhishek Sharma opens up on his scintillating show against Afghanistan

Abhishek Sharma became the talk of the town after he smashed a scintillating ton against Afghanistan, rewriting the definition of hard-hitting in the most brutal and ruthless fashion possible.

Sharma smashed 108 from just 34 balls, knitting together the brickwork for India’s dominant win against the hosts.

He bagged both the Player of the Match and the Player of the Series award after totting up 229 runs from the three games in the series. Talking at the post-match presentation, Sharma opened up on his art of ruthless striking and what usually has gone behind perfecting an art that has plenty of risk involved.

Reflecting on his mind-boggling charge, Sharma said, “I mean, sir, I've told in the first interview as well, because we have been doing this from last two years, and I told this before as well, one or two bad series won't define us as a batting department, because we wanted to dominate throughout the whole year before the World Cup, and no matter who, against whom we are playing. But I feel as a batter, as a cricketer, sometimes it's gonna go up and down. But it's the team dressing room momentum and the way we all think about it. I feel that's very important, because that's the time we have to be in one unit and just focus on the next game and just keep on dominating.”

Explaining his mindset during the charge, Sharma added, “I feel it all depends on the process I've been doing before every series. It's just, it's very particular for me against whom I'm gonna play and who are gonna be the bowlers. So for personally me as a batter, it's always been about the process: how I'm gonna utilize the power play, who is gonna bowl me the power play, and then the seventh, eighth over. It's very specific for me.”

He continued, “I feel once you want to play in this certain way, it's very important that the captain and the coach has to be on your side, because, I mean, you have to get that surety from the management and from the coaches and from the captain as well. So I feel it's because of them as well we've been doing this from, like, quite a few years now, and hopefully we're gonna continue this as well.”

He concluded by talking about his access to every single nook and cranny of the park, stating, “I feel it's, for me, I feel I don't want to restrict any area. It's just watch the ball and play according to it. For me it's very simple, from the day one. I just want to go and express myself, and I don't want to force the ball. It's just I just want to see and hit it, and it's gonna be very simple for me for the upcoming every matches as well. But as I've said before as well, you can't be sure about all the time that you're gonna be doing really well. But I feel the culture we've been developing in our team, it's just we have to dominate and we have to use the power play, so it's going really well.”