Sunrisers Hyderabad’s Abhishek Sharma was on song in the recently concluded IPL 2024. The final was a rare failure as he was undone by one of the finest deliveries bowled in the cash-rich league. The youngster was castled for just 2 in the title clash but had a sensational season where he amassed 484 runs at a strike rate of 204.22. Father Rajkumar, who has coached Abhishek since his childhood days, is very proud of his performances.
“I’m really happy with the way Abhishek has performed in this IPL 2024. He was given a role to play aggressively in the powerplay overs by the team management (SRH) and he did that. In fact, both the openers (Travis Head & Abhishek) were given that role to score as many runs as they could in the first six overs,” says Rajkumar.
The consistent run has earned Abhishek a lot of plaudits and many want him to be fast-tracked into the India T20I side. Rajkumar credits his son’s strict schedule which has helped him do well and earn so much appreciation from renowned cricketers.
“He is very prepared to play at the highest level. He has worked hard. He has had a very hectic schedule. He used to get up at 4 am, and do meditation followed by running, exercise, cycling, swimming, and gym. After all this, he used to do his batting, bowling and fielding drills. I used to be very happy that he was spending so much time in training. He used to bat three hours in the nets against a different variety of bowlers,” adds Rajkumar.
The Yuvraj effect
Apart from his father, Abhishek is mentored by former India all-rounder Yuvraj Singh who has played a key role in shaping him into a very handy all-rounder. Not just Abhishek, Yuvraj continues to keep a close watch on Shubman Gill and it was during COVID-19 that both youngsters spent a lot of time learning tricks of the trade from the star India player.
“Yuvraj Singh has played a key role in grooming him and I’m really thankful to him for that. During the COVID-19 period, they (Shubman, and Abhishek) used to stay with Yuvraj at his place and used to have their training sessions with him.
“Abhishek sees Yuvraj as his idol and used to watch him play very closely. Ye unko bhagwan hi manta hai apna. Whenever he is free, Yuvraj will give him a call to go and practice with him. On a daily basis he will call Abhishek and ask him about the whole day’s routine,” says Rajkumar.
Not just Yuvraj, even his father Yograj keeps a close eye on Abhishek and often calls him to train in Chandigarh.
“Yuvraj’s father Yograj Singh also keeps a close watch on Abhishek and what he does in training and all. I really want to thank him as well. In fact, at times, he (Yograj Singh) also calls him to Chandigarh for training. Vo kehte hain, mere ko Yuvi lagta hai ye,” adds Rajkumar.
For Abhishek, it was the 2023 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy which gave him a lot of confidence before the IPL. The preparations were on point and it was just about delivering the goods in the IPL.
“He had a very good SMAT season (485 runs in 10 matches) and helped Punjab win the tournament. He got a lot of confidence after scoring that many runs. He used to tell me that he would have a very good IPL season too. Abhishek also played DY Patil tournament where he featured in 2-3 matches. He scored 203* in one of the matches against North Railways that also gave him a lot of confidence,” says Rajkumar.
Abhishek didn’t bowl much in the IPL 2024 season barring one game. According to his father, the reason behind Abhishek being underbowled is because the Hyderabad franchise had a lot of bowling options.
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“I feel SRH have some very good bowlers in their ranks and probably because of that they didn’t really need to give much bowling to Abhishek. But they had made it clear to him that he would have to bowl as and when required and he was well prepared to take up the task,” says Rajkumar.
Being a left-arm spinner himself, Rajkumar Sharma has closely worked on his son’s bowling and lessons from Muttiah Muralitharan also helped him improve the skill-set.
“I am a left-arm spinner myself. I have worked on his bowling myself. He bowls really well. I have worked on different aspects like wrist position, bowling against left and right-handed batters.”
“Not just me, Muttiah Muralitharan has worked on him a lot when he was the bowling coach. I feel, Abhishek got the opportunity to learn from the best in the business,” explains Rajkumar.
The debut in 2018
Abhishek made his IPL debut for Delhi Daredevils against RCB back in 2018. The left-hander had to wait in the wings for his turn before a close observation from Ricky Ponting played a key role in him making his IPL debut.
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“He started off with Delhi Daredevils in the IPL post winning the U19 World Cup (in 2018). Initially, he didn’t really get any chances. But then something very interesting happened. He didn’t really use to bat in the nets. Iske naam k aage left-arm spinner likha hota tha. No one knew that he could bat. But then one day all the players wrapped up their training session and the net was empty. The people from the management asked him whether he wanted to bat for some time in the nets. He immediately agreed and began to play his natural strokes,” says Rajkumar.
“It was then when Ricky Ponting saw him bat in the nets. Ponting was really impressed with the way he was timing and hitting the ball and immediately made the decision to make him play in the next match. He played against RCB and scored a 19-ball 46,” recalls the proud father.
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