After being all ears to head coach Gautam Gambhir during Friday’s long training session, Abhishek Sharma finally had his time with the bat at nets towards the end of practice at the Narendra Modi Stadium.

Before that, Sanju Samson had spent a considerable amount of time at the nets facing both quicks and spinners. There's speculation over India's plans — are they mulling to bench opener Abhishek, who’s yet to be off the mark in the tournament with three straight first-over ducks, and bring Samson back in the XI for Sunday’s Super Eight clash here against South Africa? But the Kerala keeper-batter, too, has been going through a lean patch.

However, to Abhishek's relief, the team management has his back. Going by what skipper Suryakumar Yadav said at the pre-match news conference on Saturday, India still believe that the struggling young left-hander will be back at his devastating best.

“For people who are worried about Abhishek’s form, I worry for them,” a smiling Surya stated after India’s optional training session on Saturday, which featured only Ishan Kishan, Rinku Singh, Kuldeep Yadav and the captain himself, along with the coaching staff and chief selector Ajit Agarkar.

“I think about those teams against whom he is going to fire, as he has not been able to score till now. When he gets the runs, you know how it is. It (string of low scores) happens as it’s a team sport. The team requires the boy to play in his own style and as per his own identity. So, that’s what he’s trying to do.

“If it happens, then it’s fine. If it doesn’t, then we are there to cover. Last year, he had covered for us. We’ll cover for him now,” Surya stressed.

If Abhishek is kept out of the XI on Sunday, it would be a blow to the youngster’s confidence. Would India risk that?

Interestingly, Abhishek, on the sidelines of his nets on Friday, was seen working on his batting stance. From a distance, it looked as if the regular side-on stance was preventing him from a free swing of his bat on the leg-side. He was thus looking to clear his front leg a little bit and try a somewhat open-chested stance.

“An open-chested stance adds to the possibilities of playing strokes with a little more ease on the leg-side,” former national selector Devang Gandhi explained.

“For Abhishek, though, it’s more of a mental thing and about playing just a few deliveries to settle down and then explode, because at the other end, he has a batsman (Ishan Kishan) doing the needful in the first few overs in almost every game.”