Bad news for Team India before T20 World Cup 2026 Final, world No 1 batter and bowler Abhishek Sharma, Varun Chakravarthy set to be…

World No. 1 T20I batter and bowler Abhishek Sharma and Varun Chakravarthy have been battling for form in the T20 World Cup 2026 so far.

India vs New Zealand T20 World Cup 2026 Final: Defending champions Team India are one step away from creating history – becoming the first-ever team to win successive T20 World Cup titles. They will take on New Zealand at the T20 World Cup 2026 final at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Sunday.

Suryakumar Yadav’s side may have qualified for the title but their biggest worries are ironically with current world No. 1 T20I batter and bowlers – Abhishek Sharma and Varun Chakravarthy respectively. The question is whether the team management will be bold enough to take a huge step to drop both the number one-ranked cricketers for the biggest game of the tournament.

Abhishek Sharma has only scored 89 runs in six games

The Sunrisers Hyderabad opener started off the T20 World Cup 2026 with three successive ducks and also fell ill in the first-half of the tournament. Abhishek had to admitted in a hospital in New Delhi and was forced to miss the league stage clash against Namibia as a result.

Abhishek’s rapid decline in form has coincided with Sanju Samson’s ‘second coming’. The new Chennai Super Kings has been in golden form with scores of 97 not out and 89 in back-to-back clashes against West Indies and England. Samson is now among eight-man shortlist in the race to become the ‘Player of the Tournament’, although he has played only 4 matches in T20 World Cup 2026.

“I think I definitely wanted to come and do what I am trying to do now for the country, contribute, and win games in the World Cup. But I think I was trying a bit too much in the New Zealand series, I wanted to make an impact and get into the 11 of the World Cup here. But I think you know this format, I think this cricket can get very funny, Even the best in the world actually struggle to score runs in this format. So I think I had to respect the game. I had to come back to my basics, work a bit more from my basics,” Samson revealed about his struggles in the last nine months.

Ironically Abhishek is going through the same phase as Samson. He has only scored 89 runs in six matches in T20 World Cup 2026 and out of those 55 runs came in one knock against Zimbabwe in the Super 8 stages.

The world No. 1 T20I batter has been vulnerable against off-spinners bowling early in the innings and England also exploited this fact by giving the new ball to offie Will Jacks. New Zealand will surely try to exploit this in the final as well if Abhishek plays in the title clash with Glenn Phillips being a big option.

“We are taking care of all our players. We have a really great environment in the dressing room. Both of our leaders, GG and Surya, have a lot of faith and confidence in Abhishek. We try to help him in the way he actually requires. I think he has definitely gone through lots of ups and downs in his career. So he’s also trying to find a way out and we all are with him. And I think it’s just a matter of a couple of hits, six hits in the middle and everything can change in this format. I think we still believe in him and we feel that I think finally is going to be his day I think kind of feel that he’s definitely going to come really great on the last day,” Samson said about Abhishek Sharma after the last game in Mumbai.

Varun Chakravarthy looked out of sorts vs England

The thought of dropping world No. 1 bowler Varun Chakravarthy will also go through India’s mind looking at conditions at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. The black soil pitch for their Super 8 match vs South Africa last month, provided plenty of assistance to the pace bowlers especially from the Proteas side.

Chakravarthy looked completely out of sorts when Jacob Bethell attacked him from the first ball and hit him for three successive sixes to begin his spell. The Kolkata Knight Riders mystery spinner is the leading wicket-taker in the T20 World Cup 2026 for India but has been the most expensive as well with an economy rate of 8.85 after conceding 64 runs in 4 over in the semifinal.

If the track in Ahmedabad is anything like the one for the Super 8, then possibly Mohammed Siraj will also come into contention, after being on the bench since the opening game of the tournament where he had claimed 3 wickets vs USA.

It will remain to be seen if Suryakumar Yadav will be brave enough to take two huge calls ahead of the T20 World Cup 2026 final.

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