Abhi, it's time for thanks!

After blitzing a 47ball century Abhishek Sharma said he used the bat of his childhood friend and now his captain here Shubman Gill in the second T20I against Zimbabwe and the opener termed it as a lucky charm in a ldquopressure gamerdquo for him After getting dismissed for nought in the first match on Saturday Abhishek a day after hammered seven fours and eight sixes in his even hundred laying the foundation for Indiarsquos comprehensive 100run winA beautiful journeyAbhishek described his journey with Gill as ldquobeautifulrdquo which started from the under12 category ldquoIt has been quite beautiful starting as kids of 1112 years Yeah we are playing together from under12 When I was selected for the country the first call I received was from Shubmanrdquo said Abhishek in the postmatch press meetIndia batsman Shubman Gill and Yuvraj Singh PicGetty ImagesAbhishek said playing with Gillrsquos bat has been a practice that he follows from the agegroup cricket ldquoToday I played with his bat so special thanks to the bat It happened from the under12 days as whenever I play a pressure game I ask him for a bat It had happened in the IPL as well Today was no exception as it went well as it usually happensrdquo said AbhishekAlso ReadJasprit Bumrah living a dream through Indias World Cup triumphThe lefthander also thanked former India batter Yuvraj Singh and his own father for the fearless cricket that he was able to play ldquoYuvi paaji Yuvraj Singh has made a big contribution I donrsquot consider myself as sixerking or something like that Special thanks to my dad for allowing me to play lofted shots Generally coaches donrsquot allow a young batter to hit lofted shots But my dad always said if you want to play a lofted shot then it should go out of the ground So I wanted to follow thatrdquo he elaboratedIPL experienceSo was there pressure on him ahead of his T20I debut which he made in the first game here on Saturday ldquoI think the IPL plays a big role in this handling pressure We did not feel much pressure when we came here to represent the country as debutants Unfortunately we didnrsquot start well in the first match But my mindset and approach were pretty much similarmdashto show the right intentrdquo The 23yearold was ousted in the opening over itself for a fourball duck in the first match But for Abhishek it was not enough to transform his mindset or approachldquoThis is my game and I will go for the shot from the first ball if itrsquos in my slot If itrsquos my day then it works out and if it does not then I donrsquot mind I practise a lot for this mindsetrdquo he said However Abhishek said he implemented his gameplan much better in the second match ldquoOf course my execution was better today Sunday than yesterday I was just calculating the risk that I should take in the first over or whether to play according to the merit of the ball Whenever I get boundaries or sixes in the first few balls then I believe that itrsquos my dayrdquo he signed offThis is just the start says YuvrajFormer India allrounder Yuvraj Singh was the proud man after watching his student Abhishek Sharma scoring maiden T20I century in his second international match Abhishek smashed a 46ball ton against Zimbabwe in the second T20I after failed to score any run in his international debut on Saturday Other than Abhishek Ruturaj Gaikwad slammed unbeaten 77 while Rinku Singh played a knock of 48 not out off 22 balls to steer India to 2342 in 20 oversIndia comfortably won the match by 100 runs after bundling out Zimbabwe for 134 Avesh Khan and Mukesh Kumar clinched three wickets each while Ravi Bishnoi picked up two scalps Abhishek who was awarded Player of the Match made a videocall to his family and Yuvraj after the match The exstar was happy with Abhishekrsquos performance and congratulated him on the feat He also added that it is just the start and many more tons are yet to come ldquoWell done very proud You deserved it Many more to come this is just the startrdquo Yuvraj said in the videocall with AbhishekThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever