Abhishek Sharma appreciates the ‘tremendous’ freedom given by team management

Abhishek Sharma played a blistering knock of 79 (34) in India’s 7 wickets victory against England in the first T20I of the three-match T20I series. 

While the Player of the Match went to Varun Chakravarthy for his 3/23, Sharma’s knock made mince meat of the chase as he batted with a strike rate of more than 200 throughout his innings and had answers to every challenge the English bowlers, including the menacing Jofra Archer, had to throw at him. 

“I just wanted to express myself,” Sharma said after the game. 

“A special mention to the captain and coach. The freedom they have given to us as youngsters it's tremendous. 

“IPL has helped me a lot. I haven't seen a team environment like this. When it comes from the captain and coach, to play freely is special. The way they (England pacers) bowled, I was ready for it. I knew they were going to bowl short.”

Indian skipper Suryakumar Yadav credited the energy shown by Indian bowlers after winning the toss. England were on the back foot right from Arshdeep Singh’s first over and kept losing wickets at regular intervals. 

“The energy, the way we started after winning the toss, that set the benchmark. We took it from there,” Yadav said. 

“All the bowlers having their own plans, executing that, having good energy on the ground and the way we batted was the icing on the cake.”

He especially praised Chakravarthy and Arshdeep (2/17) for their bowling performances.

“He's [Chakravarthy] keeping things very simple, he's clear in his mind and most importantly, his preparations are on point. That's what makes him different from the others,” Yadav said on Chakravarthy. 

“With experience, he's learning a lot, taking the extra responsibility. He knew he was the only bowler who could bowl with the new ball today and then it was Hardik. He took that responsibility and he's been doing it regularly,” the Indian skipper said. 

Meanwhile, Brendon McCullum, England's new white-ball coach, had a disappointing start to his career, previously only in charge of the Test side. However, skipper Jos Buttler focused on the positives and highlighted the contributions of Jofra Archer and Mark Wood. 

“He [Archer] always looks good, he's a superstar," said Buttler. 

"To see him and [Mark] Wood operate in tandem is exciting. Venue to venue, you got to assess the conditions quickly and play well."

The second T20I is on Saturday, January 25 in Chennai.