Former Team India batter Rohan Gavaskar picked opener Abhishek Sharma to come good in the side’s final T20 World Cup 2026 group stage outing against the Netherlands in Ahmedabad on February 18. The southpaw is yet to open his account in the tournament, having registered back-to-back ducks against the USA and Pakistan, while missing the Namibia clash.

Abhishek has been all or nothing in his last seven T20Is, with two half-centuries and four ducks. Yet, he remains the No.1-ranked T20I batter in the world, thanks to his incredible performances last year.

Talking about the player to watch out for in the Netherlands game, Gavaskar said on Cricbuzz (3:56):

“I am going with Abhishek Sharma: With him, from the recent past, it’s either feast or famine. It’s either zero or blistering from him.”

The ongoing T20 World Cup is Abhishek’s first ICC event and his second multi-national tournament apart from the 2025 Asia Cup. The youngster was the Player of the 2025 Asia Cup, which India won, averaging almost 45 at a strike rate of 200 in seven outings.

“You bring back either Mohammed Siraj or Arshdeep” – Rohan Gavaskar on India’s changes against the Netherlands

Rohan Gavaskar believes Team India could rest ace pacer Jasprit Bumrah and bring in one of Mohammed Siraj or Arshdeep Singh for the Netherlands game. The former has historically been rested on occasions as part of workload management.

Bumrah missed India’s tournament opener against the USA due to illness but has played the next two games, picking up three wickets at an average of 12.33 and an economy of 6.16.

“India has qualified and this game doesn’t matter with the pre-seeding as they know their Super Eight group. You’ve got bigger and tougher matches coming up. So do you want to rest Jasprit Bumrah now? Because then he’s probably got to play five on the trot if India gets to the final. So if you look from those terms, you bring back either Mohammed Siraj or Arshdeep,” said Gavaskar (via the aforementioned source).

He added:

“From a workload management point of view, we’ve seen him (Bumrah) miss games earlier. Over the last few years, workload management has come into play with him. And sometimes, workload management within a tournament is important.”

The Men in Blue have won all three games thus far in the 2026 T20 World Cup and booked their spot in the Super Eights.