According to former India cricketer Ajay Jadeja, Rohit Sharma has played a key role behind Abhishek Sharma's rise as a T20 batter. Abhishek has cemented
his place in India's T20I setup by playing fearless cricket at the top of the order after Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli retired from the shortest format in international cricket last year. He has played a couple of fiery cameos at the top of the order in the ongoing Asia Cup.
Jadeja feels that Rohit was the one who introduced the selfless form of batting in T20I cricket, and the youngsters have continued with the unabashed approach. Jadeja lauded the team management for encouraging Abhishek to play this brand of cricket and not questioning him when he gets out after getting off to starts. The former India cricketer said that having eight batting options in the playing XI has allowed the Punjab batter to play his naturally aggressive game.
“He (Abhishek Sharma) is a dominating player. What I will add is that the entire team have played a role in his success because to accept that we will play in this manner, Rohit Sharma originated this. He isn’t here, but he has put this habit,” said Jadeja while speaking on Sony Sports.
“Otherwise, the way he got out, two years ago, six years ago, or even 10 years ago, he may have been questioned for scoring 30 runs and getting out. The point is that only if he looks to hit can he get out. The confidence that he is getting, the team appreciating him for his style of play and the eighth batter in the team is allowing him to bat in this manner," he added.
He’s not only got the talent, but he is also diligent: Abhishek Nayar
Abhishek Nayar, who was also a part of the discussion, revealed that Abhishek Sharma makes it a point to play as many matches as he can, even when he is not representing India or the Sunrisers Hyderabad. The former India assistant coach said that the southpaw does this to get as much practice as he can.
“He goes everywhere to play matches. When he is not playing for India, whether it is in Delhi or Dehradun or Rajasthan, or Mumbai, wherever there is cricket happening, wherever there is a ground, wherever he can get a chance, Abhishek Sharma goes there to practice. He’s not (only) got the talent, but he is also diligent. The mindset to become a cricketer is most important to him,” said Nayar.
