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Brian Lara reveals Abhishek Sharma's desire to play Test cricket after dominating T20Is: ‘He still wants to find a way…’
Brian Lara fondly recalled his first impressions of Abhishek from their time together at Sunrisers Hyderabad during the COVID years.
Batting legend Brian Lara shared his thoughts on the meteoric rise of Abhishek Sharma, who recently climbed to the top of the ICC T20I rankings, cementing his place among the world’s elite openers in the shortest format. In the recently concluded Asia Cup, Abhishek justified his world number one status in T20Is with 314 runs from 7 matches with three half-centuries and a highest score of 75. His average stood at 44.85 and strike-rate an astounding 200.00. Within a year of making his debut, Abhishek has become one of the most feared batters in T20 cricket against the new ball.
Lara fondly recalled his first impressions of Abhishek from their time together at Sunrisers Hyderabad during the COVID years. The Windies great hailed the youngster’s exceptional talent, praising his bat speed, timing, and Yuvraj Singh’s strong influence on his batting style.
"Well, I know Abhishek from SRH. I was there during the COVID times, maybe three or four years ago. And he's an amazing young player. They had a lot of great young players in that squad that I was with, not just Abhishek. But I think he's something very special. I think Yuvraj Singh had a big influence on him. His bat speed, the way he hits the ball, the way he hits through the ball," Lara said on the sidelines of the CEAT Cricket Rating Awards in Mumbai on Tuesday.
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"Abhishek Sharma wants to find a way to get into Test team"
Lara praised Abhishek's determination to go beyond T20 and ODI success, revealing that the young batter often calls him for advice. He said it’s inspiring to see someone with such ambition to break into the Test side and keep improving his game.
"What's an amazing thing, you know, he would give me a call and even though with the success that he's having in T20 cricket, and maybe even in 50 over cricket, he still wants to find a way to get into the test team, which is great for someone like that, to think, you know, that big is very special. So it's not a soft spot. I think it's someone who I've grown very fond of, his cricket. And it's great to see that he's sort of improved and gone into a different level," he further said
