Abhishek Sharma Reveals Encouraging Chat With Shubman Gill After Three Ducks In T20 World Cup

Abhishek Sharma speaks about chat with Shubman Gill [Source: BCCI/X.com]

India’s star T20I opener, Abhishek Sharma, suffered a blip in his form at the worst time possible as he played his first-ever ICC T20 World Cup last month.

Despite heading into the competition as the world number 1 batter, the southpaw struggled to get going in the competition and scored three consecutive ducks before getting his first runs in the fourth match.

Abhishek’s long-time friend and the longer formats captain, Shubman Gill, was left out of the T20 World Cup squad at the last minute, but kept in touch with the southpaw during the competition.

In a recent banter shared, the pair of Gill and Abhishek opened up on their conversation during this torrid time for the batter and spoke about Gill’s confidence in Abhishek’s abilities.

Abhishek Sharma reveals chat with Shubman Gill during T20 World Cup

As the duo was seen together during the recent Naman Awards, India’s ODI and Test captain was asked if he offered any words of wisdom to his Punjab teammate before the T20 World Cup. Gill went on to speak highly of his friend and said, “Number 1 T20I batter ko kaun advice dega [who will provide any advice to the world number 1 T20I batter].”

Further, even before anything was asked of Abhishek about his chats with Gill, he spoke of asking Gill for his bat in the middle of the tournament to get out of the torrid run of form.

“Maine hi message kiya tha isko 3 duck ke baad ke mujhe bat de de, isse pehle koi aur record bann jaaye [I messaged him and asked for his bat after the three ducks, before I make any unfortunate records],” Abhishek laughed.

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Gill’s confidence in Abhishek

As they continued the exchange at the NAMAN awards, Abhishek also told everyone that his teammate, since the age-group cricket days, Gill had full faith on him to turn this around and score big when the big games come.

“Usne bola tha, tu kar lega, [he said to me, you will get out of this phase,] and went on to also credit Shubman’s bat for the 52 (21) that he got in the final, to help India score 255/5.

“Shubman ka hi bat tha,” to which Gill replied, “Wo mere bat se hi khelta hai humesha, [he always bats with my bat.]”

Abhishek and Gill aim high in IPL 2026

The IPL 2026 will be another opportunity for Gill to shut the naysayers with another stellar season with the bat. He has previously won the orange cap, and no other batter has scored more runs than him since the time he joined the Gujarat Titans.

Having tasted the success of lifting the IPL trophy in 2022, will also look to bring back glory to GT after finishing third last season before the Eliminator loss.

On the other hand, Abhishek has been handed the vice-captaincy for the Sunrisers Hyderabad in Pat Cummins’ absence in the early days. Having reached the final once in 2024, the left-handed opener will look to set the stage on fire with another big season for the Orange Army and potentially also bid for the orange cap.

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