India unfazed by Abhishek's string of ducks

India are unfazed by the continued lean patch of Abhishek Sharma, the world's No. 1 T20I batter, who has been out of runs in the World Cup. "Absolutely no discussion in our team group about that," bowling coach Morne Morkel declared about the diminishing returns from the opener.

"Abhishek is a world-class player. Luckily, there were guys standing up with Abhishek obviously not scoring the runs he would like. But we're going through a very important phase of the World Cup now and I'm pretty sure he's going to deliver."

Abhishek has had three consecutive ducks in the World Cup so far and, if one were to look a little beyond the immediate scores, he has five ducks in his last seven matches. His scores in the last seven games read: 0, 0, 0, 30, 0, 68, 0.

Even so, Morkel was emphatic in his belief that a turnaround is imminent. "Not so much just for the team, but also for all the viewers watching the game, because he's entertaining and we love to see that. So, yeah, I'm pretty sure [he'll turn it around], he's hitting the ball well in the nets. It's just a matter of getting that start and getting his innings going."

Another area of concern has been India's fielding - or rather, catching - and the bowling coach has said a lot of work is being put into that area. "One thing that we work hard on is our fielding. We know the importance of the catches, wherever we can cut down angles to stop the twos, to stop any boundaries. But catching is definitely going to play a big part now in the business end of the tournament."

India have emerged as the second-worst fielding side, after Ireland, in the World Cup, having spilled nine catches, including four in the big game against Pakistan in Colombo last Sunday. "Unfortunately, no catch is an easy catch, and the boys are putting the yards in and catching a lot of balls. But that's definitely one of our key focus points, is to really even go for those 50-50 ones, because we know how that can swing and break the momentum of a batting innings," Morkel explained.

The bowling coach also hinted that the Indian attack might have a different look in the Super Eight games, the first of which is against South Africa at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Sunday. "Yeah, definitely we discuss options in terms of how we're going to approach our bowling innings against different teams. I think it's important to stay awake and to keep on looking for ways that we can strike better and where we can have guys attacking specific batters."

Morkel, a former South Africa spearhead, is impressed with the development of Shivam Dube the bowler. "With Shivam, I think any bowler, we like confidence. You want to feel the backing. This journey started almost more than a year ago, when we gave him the responsibility to bowl for us in Dubai (in the Asia Cup) and to bowl the first over. I think as soon as you feel that environment, you feel that you get backed by, first, the captain, the coach and the staff.

"From there, life becomes a little bit easier. You don't have to try and prove yourself. You don't have to try too hard. He's got a lot of skill with the ball, with variations. When I catch him, he hits the mitt quite hard. For him, it was just a matter of building that confidence and polishing up when to use his variations. I think he has a very good understanding of conditions. He can read the conditions very well. As a power-hitter himself, he will work out what is the hardest and toughest ball to bowl.

"I think having that game sense and just giving him the backing, and to say, 'Listen, if you go for the boundary, it's okay. You have a potential guy that can pick up that wicket fast.' He can bring us control with the ball in terms of his execution. It's very good. We slowly just developed that and gave him the confidence. There were some times where I could see him walking off the field disappointed at not having a bowl."