Former CSK superstar Subramaniam Badrinath has revealed that Abhishek Sharma’s supreme form in the shortest format of the game is due to Yuvraj Singh’s invaluable advice to the batsman to focus only on white-ball cricket.
25-year-old Punjab batsman Abhishek Sharma came into limelight with his stellar performances for Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL 2024 season. He had former Indian all-rounder Yuvraj Singh to guide him on the path to success.
He made his debut for India after the 2024 T20 World Cup and quickly became one of India’s batting pillars in this format, but he earned fame for his explosive best performances for India. He is in tremendous form and has once again come into limelight after playing a stormy inning of 68* runs in 20 balls in Guwahati.
“Yuvraj appears to have told Abhishek Sharma to forget about red-ball cricket” – Subramaniam Badrinath
Former Chennai Super Kings batsman Subramaniam Badrinath believes that playing only the T20I format has helped Abhishek Sharma become a great cricketer and achieve incredible success in the format.
The former MS Dhoni teammate has also said that legendary Indian all-rounder Yuvraj Singh has probably told the young player to focus only on white-ball formats and not consider the question of red-ball cricket.
“Yuvraj Singh might have helped him a lot technically and tactically. But I think where he has helped the most is to bring clarity to Abhishek Sharma.
“The most important thing that Yuvraj has told Abhishek is to forget red-ball cricket. He probably told Abhishek to just focus on white-ball cricket, especially T20 cricket, which comes naturally to him. No one could have given him better advice,” Badrinath said on Star Sports after Abhishek’s brilliant innings in Guwahati.
Badrinath cited the example of Virat Kohli and Hardik Pandya as cricketers of one format
Subramaniam Badrinath tells Abhishek Sharma that playing only one format often helps players be their best. He cited the example of legendary Indian cricketer Virat Kohli, who is in dream touch in ODIs after announcing his retirement from Test and T20I cricket.
“In recent cricket, people who are playing only one format have been performing very well. This gives them a lot of clarity on their skill set. Sometimes when you play multiple formats, the formats collide with each other and you get confused,” he said.
Badrinath also described Hardik Pandya as a cricketer of one format. However, Pandya has not played ODIs due to injuries or workload issues; However, the all-rounder intends to play for India in both ODI and T20 formats.
He further said, “Look at Virat Kohli, he is playing only one format and is taking his game to another level. Hardik Pandya is playing only T20 cricket and is performing very well.”
“One-format players will soon become the norm” – Subramaniam Badrinath
Subramaniam Badrinath believes that players from one format will soon become common in international cricket. Teams will soon have three different playing 11s across three formats, with only a few playing multiple formats for their country.
Badrinath also cited the hectic schedule in franchise cricket, which has already resulted in players missing out on one or two formats at the international level.
“When you train only for one format it gives a lot of clarity from the physical training and practice. So you get fresher and more fit. This is going to be the future. Players from one format will soon become the norm with completely different T20, ODI and Test teams. It won’t take long for that to happen. There will be a pool of around 45 players to play with different teams for each format,” Badrinath said (via the above source).
Also read: Gautam Gambhir’s former teammate beats Abhishek Sharma, calls him more explosive T20 batsman
