Abhishek Sharma could be an asset for India if he bowls more: Tom Moody

Abhishek Sharma has had a brilliant season in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024, scoring 482 runs at a strike rate of 107.75 in 15 innings. Along with Travis Head, he has provided Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) a rollicking start, which has been a cornerstone for their success this season. On May 24 (Saturday) against Rajasthan Royals (RR), Abhishek delivered with the ball as well, accounting for wickets of Sanju Samson and Shimron Hetmyer as SRH registered a comfortable 36-run victory in Qualifier 2.

In fact, Abhishek had sent down just three overs in the entire tournament before he was called up to bowl out his entire spell of four overs by Pat Cummins on Friday.

Former Australia all-rounder Tom Moody has suggested that the 23-year-old needs to bowl more, which will benefit the Indian team in the long run. "He backs himself 100%," Moody said on ESPNCricinfo's Time Out show. 

"Yes, he doesn't bowl as much as he needs to bowl in domestic cricket for whatever reasons, but for the future of Indian cricket, he needs to be bowling because he is a serious package to be reckoned with. [Bats] at the top of the order, someone who can bowl left-arm spin, whatever the format, he's going to be a real asset going forward.

"The reason that makes him unique as a spinner is he tosses it up and what he tries to do is get overspin on the ball, so the ball comes down like that [with seam upright and facing the batter, not sideways], Nathan Lyon style, it dips. So he doesn't bowl side spin, he bowls overspin, and he's got that clever carrom ball he's been working on, which is the one Hetmyer got and was an absolute peach."

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