Indian opener Abhishek Sharma credited head coach Gautam Gambhir and captain Suryakumar Yadav for keeping him confident during his lull in the first half of the 2026 T20 World Cup.
Abhishek scored three
consecutive ducks — a tournament record — to start the campaign, followed by a 15 against South Africa, before finally breaking shackles with an excellent 55 against Zimbabwe on Thursday. In between, he also battled an illness for which he had to be admitted to a hospital for two days.
But the team management told Abhishek that he’d play all matches in the tournament even if he scored more ducks.
“It didn’t start the way I wanted, I was actually in the hospital and I wasn’t feeling so well, that you know, playing the first game for the country and that also in the World Cup, a positive start or maybe the best start I wanted, but still I feel the support, the love the teammates, they all have showed me throughout all these days, especially the coach and captain – no matter if you do another zero, probably get out early, you’re gonna play all the games, you’re gonna win the games for the team. So I think that’s very important as a player, to have that support from the team and the coaches,” Abhishek told the BCCI after the win over Zimbabwe.
This kind of backing is seldom offered in Indian cricket. But it’s one that Abhishek absolutely deserves after being on an unforeseen run last year where he climbed to record ICC ratings.
“It’s actually meant like, you are in a family only, it’s not just a team, so you are that close with all of the teammates and all the coaches that they actually want you to do well, and I was just waiting for this day,” he added.
