(From left): A young Abhishek Sharma with father Rajkumar Sharma; Abhishek Sharma with parents Rajkumar Sharma and Manju Sharma after wining the player of the series during Australia Tour. (Special Arrangement)There is a specific way in which some of the ground staff at the famous old IS Bindra Stadium in Mohali remember Abhishek Sharma. While memory does not serve them so well, having seen the 25-year-old on countless occasions ever since he was a teenager, there is one thing that remained consistent from his junior days to the time he showed up to train with the Punjab team a few months ago at this ground. Every time he played, painstaking trips had to be made to recover balls from the stands.
If Abhishek’s recent performances are anything to go by, the groundsmen’s remembrances sound more like fact and less like myth. His relentless attacking style is exactly why his stock has risen so rapidly in the shortest format. It is what has powered a near-perfect initiation to international cricket – an 18-month period in which he has plundered over 1000 runs in 30 matches at a strike rate of 188.46. He has stood up to the pace of Josh Hazlewood on bouncy Australian pitches, and the mystery spin of Rashid Khan on flat tracks in the IPL, with similar ferocity.
As Abhishek dons the India jersey for the first time in his home state of Punjab, in India’s second T20I against South Africa to be held here on Thursday, his father and childhood coach, Rajkumar, is happy to see his boy celebrated. But he believes there is method and selflessness behind the aggression, too. Rajkumar seems adamant to dispel certain misconceptions about his son’s commitment to the game.
Young Abhishek Sharma with Shubman Gill after Punjab won the Vijay Merchant Trophy in 2015. (Special Arrangement)
Perhaps it is the disdain that Abhishek has tended to show even to the most threatening bowlers. It may have something to do with his easygoing persona off the field. But it is a source of consternation for Rajkumar that those attributes, which only help his cricket, have betrayed a sense of non-seriousness in him as an athlete. His devotion to batting, according to his equally cricket-obsessed father, has been relentless.
“He has done everything he can to constantly improve as a player. His days started at 4am, from gym and exercise to running and swimming,” he tells The Indian Express. “These are things about him that people don’t see. He is constantly playing cricket; if not for India or in IPL, then for Punjab or in their camps. If not there, he wants to play club cricket or play in office tournaments (for his employer, Indian Oil). He just wants to keep improving.”
Abhishek was, in fact, the captain of his state youth teams that had his childhood friend, Shubman Gill. Gill’s rise would be meteoric, while Abhishek had to bide his time a bit more, but Rajkumar affirms that there have never been doubts that he will not reach the levels he had been predicted to reach during his younger days.
Both boys had been spotted during an Under-14 camp in Mohali. Punjab junior coach Arun Bedi and DP Azad, who had coached Kapil Dev, had found promise, the former even went to the extent of telling Raj Kumar that they will both represent India. “Even at the age of 11-12, Abhishek would hit sixes standing and also stepping out against pacers as well spinners. He would hit sixes with lofted shots, another thing uncommon in boys of his age. That spoke about his skill,” Bedi told The Indian Express.
A young Abhishek Sharma with Yuvraj Singh. (Special Arrangement)
Not many batters have a CV with references to five separate greats of the game – VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid, with whom he has worked in the India setup; Ricky Ponting and Brian Lara ,who coached him in the IPL; and Yuvraj Singh, who started work with him in the lockdown days.
Of them, Yuvraj and Lara still remain close, both of whom have even turned him onto the sport of golf; not just a medium for relaxation or using pent-up restless energy, but another way to find marginal gains. “It has improved his bat swing, made it cleaner,” Rajkumar says.
Yuvraj is more than just an idol or mentor, Rajkumar credits him with shaping his son’s career, especially after his international debut. “Even now, when he thinks Abhishek has made a mistake, he will pick up the phone and call and scold him. And Abhishek is scared of him too,” Rajkumar says with a knowing, paternal chuckle.
And Lara’s praise is sticking in the mind. “Abhishek had his initial success in red ball cricket and that’s what made him shine in white ball cricket. And Lara has also shared how he sees him as an all-format player. Lara speaks for hours with him over the phone, and he instructs him to play with the same style, same dominance, even against the red ball,” he says.
But future goals can wait. Ahead of Thursday’s homecoming, Abhishek and his family can afford to bask, ever so slightly, in some of the existing glory. “We want things to keep going the way they are,” Rajkumar says.
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