Will India drop Abhishek for final? Team unlikely to make the change for now

The murmurs of concern have turned into fullblown criticism but despite his prolonged lean patch India are likely to keep faith in Abhishek Sharma for the T20 World Cup final against New Zealand given their welldocumented unwillingness to disturb a winning combinationIn many ways the tournament has seen a reversal of fortunes when it comes to the Indian opening pairWhen the competition began Abhishek was expected to be the batting mainstay at the top while questions lingered over Sanju Samsons place with many predicting that the event could well decide the course of his international career But since the mustwin Super Eight clash against the West Indies the narrative has changed significantlySamsons assured performances have silenced many doubters while the spotlight has increasingly shifted towards Abhisheks struggles If Samsons form dominated discussions at the beginning the decibel levels have now risen around Abhisheks wretched run in the business endThe aggressive lefthanded opener has struggled for rhythm through the tournament managing scores of 0 0 0 15 10 and 9 in his last six outings Barring a halfcentury against Zimbabwe he has nothing spectacular to show for in an event he was tipped to dominate However the team management is understood to be reluctant to make a change at the top with the summit clash approaching on Sunday in AhmedabadWe are taking care of all our players GG bhai and Surya have a lot of faith and confidence in Abhishek his opening partner Samson said after the England gameThe dip in Abhisheks form coincided with a difficult phase for him physically Following the league game in Mumbai he was drained by a stomach infection and had to be hospitalised which resulted in noticeable weight loss and disrupted his rhythm during a crucial stage of the competitionOn the field rival teams also seem to have worked out a clear method to keep him quiet Captains have repeatedly used slow bowlers early against him particularly offspinners and slow leftarm orthodox tweakers denying him the pace he prefers to work with at the start of the innings The pattern of his dismissals has also been similarAgainst Pakistan he tried to take on the offspinner inside the powerplay and ended up mistiming a lofted stroke Against Netherlands an offspinner got him with a quicker delivery that angled into him cramping him for room and forcing a mistimed strokeIn the semifinal against England he was again early into the shot against a slower delivery and failed to get the elevation he wanted Abhishek has often been forced to manufacture strokes against spin struggling to manoeuvre the field when bowlers take pace off the ballAnother technical aspect that has been tested is the speed of his bats downswing When the surface offers paceoff conditions the quick downswing can make it difficult for him to adjust late to slower deliveriesBowlers have used this to good effect by varying their pace and forcing him to commit early to attacking strokes One option could have been to bring in Rinku Singh but that creates another structural issue in the batting orderWith the current top order and middle order combination adding another middleorder batter could once again leave Rinku batting as low as No7 or even No8 limiting the impact he can make For now the Indian team management appears ready to back Abhisheks attacking intent at the top and avoid disturbing a combination that has taken them to the final