Harare (Zimbabwe): India's rising sensation Abhishek Sharma revealed that his mentor Yuvraj Singh was extremely happy despite him scoring a duck on his T20I debut against Zimbabwe here on Saturday.
Abhishek, who wanted to kick off his international career with a bang, failed to score any runs and got out on a duck as the Men in Blue lost the series opener against hosts Zimbabwe, who extended the winning streak against India to three games on Saturday.
However, Abhishek didn't take too much time to turn his fortune around and became the third India to smash a T20I century (a 47-ball 100) in terms of the innings taken to achieve the milestone. His innings proved to be the difference between the two sides as the Shubman Gill-led side registered a comprehensive 100-run win in the second game a day later.
Two extremely special phone 📱 calls, one memorable bat-story 👌 & a first 💯 in international cricket!
— BCCI (@BCCI) July 8, 2024
𝗗𝗢 𝗡𝗢𝗧 𝗠𝗜𝗦𝗦!
A Hundred Special, ft. Abhishek Sharma 👏 👏 - By @ameyatilak
WATCH 🎥 🔽 #TeamIndia | #ZIMvIND | @IamAbhiSharma4 pic.twitter.com/0tfBXgfru9
Yuvraj Singh, who is working as the mentor with the all-rounder, felt it was a "good start". "I spoke to him yesterday (Saturday) also, and I don't know why he was very happy when I got out at zero. He said that's a good start but he must be very happy and proud just like my family," Abhishek said in a video posted by BCCI.
He credited the hero of India's 2011 World Cup triumph for not only helping him hone his skills on the cricket field but also supporting him in his life away from the field.
"It's all because of him as well, the hard work he has put in (shaping) me. (For) three years, he has worked really hard not only on my cricket but off the field (life) as well," Abhishek added.
After the second T20I, the 23-year-old called the former cricketer, who said, "Well done, very proud, you deserve it. Many more (such innings) to come, this is just the start."
Since there was no rest day in between the first two games, the visitors didn't get a lot of time to think about the opening loss and that worked in India's favour as they levelled the five-match series 1-1.
"We lost yesterday but I felt, today is my day and I should take the match to the end, the positive was that we didn't have much time to think about the next game," he pointed out.
Abhishek forged a match-winning 137-run partnership with one-down Ruturaj Gaikwad (77 not out off 47 balls) for the second wicket. "I was in a flow and just wanted to express myself. I spoke to Rutu (Gaikwad) as well, and he said the same thing that 'don't think much about the balls and hit what you think you can'," he quipped.
He also thanked India's stand-in skipper on the tour Shubman Gill for motivating him, giving his bat and believing in him. "Special thanks to Shubman, who timely gave me his bat, this was a much-needed innings for me and the team. This has been going on from U-14 times. Whenever I play with his bat I have done well, today also, the same happened. I played with his bat only, which I got after a lot of difficulty, he doesn't give it easily. That is like my last option when I feel I have to play with his bat for a comeback," he concluded.
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