On July at Harare Sports Club, Abhishek Sharma shrugged off a forgettable outing on debut to score a blitzkrieg 46-ball century against Zimbabwe. Abhishek backed his attacking instinct and smashed eight sixes, seven fours in his maiden T20I ton. After India’s 100-run win to level the ongoing five-T20I series, Abhishek video called his family and legendary India all-rounder Yuvraj Singh.
His family joined him straightaway and celebrated his century. Then he called Yuvraj who did not pick up at first but then joined him.
Yuvraj and father’s contribution to Abhishek’s attacking approach
During the post-match press meet, Abhishek had credited Yuvraj for his six-hitting ability. He also recalled his father’s advice which made him not curb the instinct to take the aerial route.
“Yuvi paaji (Yuvraj Singh) has made a big contribution. I don’t consider myself as sixer-king or something like that. Special thanks to my dad for allowing me to play lofted shots.
“Generally, coaches don’t allow a young batter to hit lofted shots. But my dad always said if you wanted to play a lofted shot then it should go out of the ground. So, I wanted to follow that,” the opener said.
Abhishek departed for a four-ball duck on his debut and India ended up losing the low-scoring encounter.
“This is my game and I will go for the shot from the first ball if it’s there in my slot. If it’s my day then it works out, and if it does not, then I don’t mind. I practice a lot for this mindset,” the 23-year-old added.
Better execution, calculated risks
Abhishek said that his execution was better than the first T20I and he took calculated risk.
“Of course, my execution was better today than yesterday. I was just calculating the risk that I should take in the first over, or whether to play according to the merit of the ball.
“Whenever I get boundaries or sixes in the first few balls then I believe that it’s my day,” the young Amritsar-born batter concluded.
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