Abhishek Sharma, India’s top-ranked T20I batter, is currently not part of the ODI squad. The left-handed batter has already cemented his place in the shortest format of the game in Indian colours but is yet to make the cut in the long formats.
Abhishek earned Team India cap in 2024, six years after Shubham Gill – who also came from India’s 2018 Under-19 World Cup-winning squad- earned his cap. Today, Gill is India’s captain in ODIs and Tests, and Abhishek is the team’s leading T20 opener.
India’s two-time World Cup winner Yuvraj Singh, who mentored both the players, has, on many occasions, been critical of his “favourite player” Abhishek’s temperament. In previous interviews, Yuvraj Singh had shared how he put the striker “in a process” to ensure that he plays for India in four years.
While speaking of his association with the city of Hyderabad at a recent event, Yuvi had described Abhishek as his favourite player.
“And one of your and my favorite players, Abhishek Sharma, plays for Hyderabad. So, I love Hyderabad and I love coming here,” he said.
Shubman one step ahead of Abhishek: Yuvraj
While Yuvraj has personally mentored Abhishek, he is often been critical of the batter’s temperment. Speaking to
Kevin Pietersen in an interaction, Yuvraj explained why Shubman Gill is more consistent than Abhishek.
“I started working with these guys (Abhishek and Gill) just before Covid. And obviously, I could feel Shubman was up a notch, one step ahead. He had already played two games for India, and I could see that the guy is four times more hardworking than the average cricketer. Every time I told him something, he would happily adapt it in his batting. And that’s why he is where he is,” Yuvraj said.
Yuvraj Singh’s mentorship, though informal, has played a key role in shaping their careers.
“As for Abhishek, I put him in a process. I told him if you do this in 4 years, you’re going to play for India. Think about playing for India and not the IPL. And in exactly four years and three months, he debuted for India. Some guys don’t understand how much talent they have. But he did. And if you put in the process, the results will show,” Yuvraj said at an event recently.
Abhishek Sharma’s overall List A record
The 25-year-old is captaining Punjab in a Vijay Hazare Trophy fixture against Mumbai but could not make much of an impact, falling for just 8 runs of 10 balls. It was Sairaj Patil who got his wicket.
Abhishek has featured in 68 List A fixtures before the Vijay Hazare Trophy match.against Mumbai. In these he has scored 2188 runs, averaging 34.18 and a strike rate of 100.27 He has scored 4 hundreds and 8 half-centuries in his List A career so far.
Abhishek, however, is yet to play a single One Day International (ODI) for India and if the Indian team management goes on with the current crop of players heading into the 2027 ODI World Cup, there is still some time before he gets a chance in 50-overs cricket.