India’s sweeping victory of 100 runs was made possible by Abhishek Sharma, who hit seven fours and eight sixes in his even hundred.
Abhishek Sharma claimed to have used Shubman Gill’s bat, his boyhood friend and current captain, during the second Twenty20 International match against Zimbabwe, after smashing a 47-ball century. The opener described it as a lucky charm in a “pressure game” for him. Abhishek, who was dismissed for zero in the opening match on Saturday, was the architect of India’s comprehensive 100-run victory on Sunday as he pounded seven fours and eight sixes in his even hundred. Beginning in the under-12 division, Abhishek called his experience with Gill “beautiful.”
Starting with the 11- and 12-year-old children, it has been really lovely. Yes, starting from Under-12, we play together. At the post-match press conference, Abhishek stated, “Shubman was the first person I spoke with after being picked for the national team.”
After playing age-group cricket, Abhishek claimed he had developed the habit of using Gill’s bat when playing.
“His bat is very special to me because I used it to play with it today.” When I played a pressure game, I would ask him for a bat, and that is how it began in the under-12 days.
“The Indian Premier League also experienced it.” According to Abhishek, “Today was no exception, everything went as planned.”
In addition, the left-hander expressed gratitude to his father and former India batting star Yuvraj Singh for allowing him to play cricket with such bravery these days.
“Yuvi paaji, or Yuvraj Singh, has contributed significantly. I don’t think of myself as the Sixer King or anything. I’m really grateful to my father for letting me play lofted shots.
In general, instructors forbid young batters from hitting lofted balls. However, my father always insisted that a lofted shot should leave the ground if you wished to play it. He said, “So, I wanted to follow that.”
In light of this, was he under any pressure before making his T20I international debut in this weekend’s opening match? “I believe that managing pressure is greatly influenced by the IPL.” As newcomers representing the nation, we did not feel particularly under pressure when we arrived here.
“We didn’t start the first match well, unfortunately. However, I took a similar method and frame of mind in order to demonstrate the proper aim. The 23-year-old was dismissed in the first over of the encounter for a four-ball duck. However, Abhishek found that it was insufficient to change his perspective or methodology.
If the first ball is in my slot when I play this game, I’ll take the shot. If it’s my day, then everything goes smoothly; if not, I’m not upset about it. For this mindset, I practice a lot,” he remarked.
But in the second game, Abhishek claimed he carried out his strategy far more skillfully.
I performed better today than I did yesterday, of course. All I was doing was figuring out how much of a risk to take in the first over and whether to play the ball or not.
He concluded, saying, “I think it’s my day if I get boundaries or sixes in the first few balls.”
