"It's All Because Of Him": Abhishek Sharma's Glorious Tribute To Yuvraj Singh After Wankhede Heroics

In a format as fickle as T20 cricket in which a batter is destined for more failures than success, India's newest power-hitter Abhishek Sharma has learnt quite early that self-belief and fearlessness are essential to increase the probability of a favourable outcome. It has not yet been a full year since the Punjab batter arrived at the international stage on the back of high promise in domestic cricket, including an immensely successful IPL with Sunrisers Hyderabad in 2024. But at only 24, Abhishek has begun threatening records which took several years for others to create.

His maiden T20I century was the joint-third fastest for any Indian (46 balls) in only his second match. On Sunday against England, his second T20I ton was the second fastest for any Indian (37 balls).

In between, he smacked a 28-ball century to claim the joint-fastest hundred for any Indian in the prestigious Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy.

What is the secret of such towering success at a young age, one would wonder. The answer is not too complex for Abhishek, who grew up partnering Shubman Gill for Punjab in the opening slot.

Yuvraj Singh's imprints on Abhishek's flourish are hard to miss but to his credit, he has reciprocated on the field all that the great Indian all-rounder has sounded to him in their countless sessions in myriad set-ups over the last few years.

"The focus was very much clear (during practice). Yuvi Paaji put all these things in my mind three or four years back," Abhishek told the media after his 54-ball 135 (13x6s, 7x4s) became the highest individual total by an Indian in T20Is, surpassing his friend Gill (126 off 63 balls in 2023).

"Yuvi paaji was the one to believe in me, and when someone like Yuvraj Singh is telling you that you