Abhishek Sharma was a part of the U-19 ICC World Cup-winning Indian team and also plays from Sunrisers Hyderabad. (Rana Simranjit Singh)For the last two weeks, Punjab cricketer and Sunrisers Hyderabad player Abhishek Sharma has been training at Mohali ahead of the start of the domestic season. The 18-year-old player from Amritsar, who was part of the U-19 ICC World Cup-winning Indian team, scored 926 runs including one double century and three centuries apart from claiming 21 wickets in the Punjab Inter-District Senior Tournament for Katoch Shield trophy. His all-round performance meant that Amritsar claimed the title.
Apart from Katoch Shield, Sharma amassed 407 runs including a century in the Punjab Inter-District U-23 tournament later and the youngster believes that this performance will help him.
“Scoring runs as an opener in Katoch Shield and Punjab U-23 Inter-District tournament gave me a lot of confidence. I had spent time on my batting post IPL and my focus was to play consistently. Katoch Shield tournament sees the presence of almost all the top players from Punjab and it was good to score runs and take wickets against strong opposition in the tournament. Out of the four centuries including the double century, the 158 against Mohali came in tough conditions while chasing and boosted my confidence a lot. It also helped me in my bowling and the 21 wickets in the tournament will motivate me in the coming season,” he told Newsline.
Sharma, whose father Raj Kumar Sharma represented India in U-15, U-19 and U-22 age group at international level, was the highest scorer and wicket-taker in BCCI U-16 Vijay merchant trophy in 2015-2016, where he scored more than 1200 runs apart from claiming 57 wickets.
Before last year’s U-19 World Cup, Sharma had captained India U-16 team to title win in U-19 Asia Cup and the all-rounder claimed six wickets and smashed a crucial fifty against Bangladesh in quarter-final in ICC U-19 World Cup last year.
The youngster was bought by IPL side Delhi Daredevils last year before being traded with Sunrisers Hyderabad, for whom he played three matches in this year’s IPL. Though Sharma got his opportunity in the middle-order in the three matches, where he could not score much, the opener sees the IPL experience as a learning experience. While his team-mate Shubman Gill has played for India and now playing for India A side in West Indies, Sharma believes the upcoming season will be important for him.
“To play for Sunriders Hyderabad meant that I spent time with coaches like Tom Moody sir, Muthiah Muralitharan and V V S Laxman. Even though I played in only three matches, they supported me a lot. They told me not to play rash shots and I would seek tips on batting and bowling from coaches as well as fellow players. Such things always help as a youngster. Talking of Shubman, he has been my team-mate since junior days and it’s good to see him playing at India and India level. Scoring runs and taking wickets in the upcoming season will be my priority and if I can do that, I will be able to create chances to play at such level too,” added Sharma.
In the U-19 world Cup, Sharma had taken six wickets at an economy of 3.19 and the left-arm spinner has been working on his bowling too. As a member of Sunrisers Hyderabad, Sharma would also seek tips from former Sri Lankan spinner Muttiah Muralitharan, a thing which he says has helped his bowling. “Muralitharan sir told me to focus on basics and how to improve my bowling. He told me to focus on consistent line and told me to try variations in one day and T-20 format. Apart from Muralitharan sir, I also spent time with Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al hasan and team-mate Shahbaz Nadeem and it helped my bowling,” said Sharma.
