Abhishek Sharma’s father Rajkumar Sharma reckons Yuvraj Singh has had a huge impact on his son’s career. Yuvraj has been playing the mentor role for Abhishek Sharma and has guided the youngster on the right track.
Sharma was at his best in IPL 2024, smashing 484 runs in 16 matches at an average of 32.27 and a blistering strike rate of 204.21. Thus, the left-hander played an instrumental role in taking SRH to the final of the tournament.
Sharma also had a great run in Syed Mushtaq Ali trophy, scoring 485 runs in 10 matches at an average of 48.5 while playing for Punjab. Furthermore, the pugnacious southpaw had an impressive strike rate of 192.46 in the domestic tournament.
“I feel very good when world-class players like Yuvraj Singh train young kids then there could not be anything better than that. Yuvi has had a huge impact on his career, he worked really hard and used to make him train all day and night,” Rajkumar Sharma said as quoted by India Today.
The senior Sharma revealed that his son always wanted to follow the footsteps of Yuvraj Singh and how the former Indian all-rounder has been guiding him.
“He used to consider Yuvraj as his idol and used to say ‘Mai Yuvi paaji ke tarah batting karunga’ (I want to bat like Yuvraj Singh). He used to watch his videos and once they started training together even Yuvi himself said ki ‘mujhe aise lag raha hai mai khud batting karraha hun’ (It seems like I am batting) and then he and his entire team used to train him, Yuvi used to himself stand and watch him bat,” he added.
Rajkumar said he was confident of his son’s talent and backed him to reach the top level.
“I used to get good bowlers and he used to hit sixes and even clear the ball out of the stadium. Everyone used to be shocked that a kid hits long sixes. And I used to tell everyone he was gifted. When he got older he went to professional coaches and top players and I thanked them for this result. He met Yuvraj Singh, Rahul Dravid and Brian Lara and started traveling the country and playing well,” Rajkumar said.
Many cricket experts believe that the left-hander is not far away from India’s maiden call-up.
