Abhishek Sharma 'similar' to his mentor Yuvraj Singh: The making of Asia Cup 2025's brightest batting star

Abhishek Sharma's stocks have risen steadily over the past few months. However, no one anticipated the absolute golden run he would have in the Asia Cup.

"Single bhi lelo Maharaj (Take a single as well)," wrote Yuvraj Singh, the legendary India all-rounder, while commenting on his prodigy Abhishek Sharma's Instagram post. The left-handed young batter from Amritsar enjoyed a dream Asia Cup 2025 run, finishing as the leading run-scorer with 314 runs in seven matches. This fetched him the Player of the Tournament accolade, and the first thing he did after winning the award was share a picture with his mentor, Yuvraj. Abhishek has repeatedly spoken about Yuvraj's influence on his career and how he has transformed him into a beast of a player.

Abhishek Sharma scored 314 runs in seven matches in the Asia Cup 2025 edition. (AP)

Throughout the Asia Cup, Abhishek kept hitting boundaries at will, with the thought of rotating the strike and taking singles taking a backseat. Abhishek's stocks have risen steadily over the past few months. However, no one anticipated the absolute knockout of a run he would have in the eight-team Asia Cup, decimating every opposition possible. Barring one game, he went past 30, with the only failure being the final against Pakistan, where he departed after scoring just five runs.

Repeatedly, Abhishek gave a flying start to India inside the powerplay, forming a formidable opening pair with his best friend, Shubman Gill. It's no surprise that the Indian Test captain pulled Abhishek's leg when the latter went to the presentation dais to pick up his Player of the Tournament award.

Abhishek, the current No.1 batter in T20Is, has the highest rating points for any player in the ICC rankings, and as he continues to go from strength to strength, Hindustan Times spoke to Simon Helmot, the assistant coach of SunRisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Simon has worked closely with Abhishek, and not many know that he also worked with Yuvraj during the IPL 2016 season, where SRH won the tournament under the captaincy of David Warner.

Simon believes there are many similarities between Yuvraj and Abhishek's games. Neither batter believes in practising power-hitting during training sessions, as hitting sixes comes naturally to them.

"I see some similarities between Yuvraj and Abhishek. One thing I was always impressed with when working with Yuvi back in 2016 was his power hitting. It was all about playing with a full, clean bat face, striking the ball. What I'd say, more of a tempo two, tempo one, tempo two level rather than tempo three. He still did some power hitting at different times, but it was all about balance and shapes and hitting gaps and hitting balls with good body position," said Simon.

"And I do see that with Abhi, too. Abhi doesn't go out to train to try to hit a six every ball. There's real method in his training. He looks to punch gaps and drop and run. However, his strength is now clearly evident in his ability to clear the boundary early in his innings. And that's something which he's grown and developed into. It wasn't something he's purposefully done over the journey. I think it's just something he's backed himself into. He has a lot more confidence and a better understanding of his game. And I think that comes, like I said, with years of match situations and ups and downs. But he's certainly in a purple patch at the moment," he added.

While discussing a regular net day, the Australian explained that Abhishek's beauty lies in how he approaches a training session and how focused his mindset is on achieving what he really wants to do.

"His work ethic has been excellent. He's continually developed and grown his game through sheer hard work. Obviously, through various experiences along the way. He's got to understand his game a lot better. And that happens with age, with games played, with experience," said Simon.

"He's worked on that himself, and he's developed the confidence to express himself early in the innings. However, I think there has always been a method in the way Abhishek has approached his game. When he trains, he trains with purpose, facing the new ball and trying to replicate the situations he's likely to encounter in a match. And obviously trying to train in conditions and situations that he's going to confront come game day," he added.

An insight into Abhishek's mindset

When playing against Pakistan, Abhishek went after 'premium' fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi right from the start. In the Super 4s match, Shaheen bowled a bouncer on the very first ball and the left-handed Indian opening batter just timed and guided the delivery for a six. What followed needs no reminder. Abhishek was able to target bowlers from the start, thanks to his meticulous planning on the eve of the game. On off-days, the left-hander likes to study the opposition, making plans on how he will go after the best bowlers in the rival camp.

"He tries to make sure that he studies the opposition, knows what he's going to come up against and then tries to train accordingly. He's quite specific in training. He doesn't overhit. That's a compliment to him. He doesn't overplay. At times, he'll hit a little amount of balls, especially when he's playing lots and lots of matches, say in an IPL season where you're training and you're playing and you're travelling in quick succession," said Simon.

"But when he needs to hit, you know, enough balls or more balls, he does do that. He likes to have training, I suppose, as calm as possible, because he tries to be calm. And I think you see before he goes out to bat, he just has that little meditation time, I suppose, where he taps the ball on his bat on the face, and he does it on the edge, kneeling down on the boundary and then he goes out and does his work. This has all grown and developed over the years," he added.

Speaking of how purposeful Abhishek truly is, Simon revealed that the youngster always wants to get what he needs during training sessions so that he's prepared to the best of his ability heading into a game.

"I wouldn't say specific other than Abhishek's always relied on, I'm just talking about an IPL land, you know, with the Sunrisers. Because of obviously being influential in coordinating training, he just wants to make sure the training is purpose-built and that he doesn't want to, in a sense, doesn't want to get in the way. He doesn't want to disrupt training, but he wants to ensure that he can still get what he needs. So then he can go into a game with full confidence and tick all the boxes and be prepared," said Simon.

"And so that's probably where I've helped him in just being, making sure that we've been able to provide him with time, with surfaces and with particular bowler types. So he can walk out of the nets feeling 100 per cent confident and he can go and perform with the Sunrisers next match," he added.

Speaking of Abhishek's tenure with SunRisers Hyderabad, Simon believes that the 'Travishek' (Travis Head and Abhishek) opening pair has benefited from each other and instilled fear in the opposition camp.

"I think they both have benefited from each other. You never know which one's going to get off quicker or who's going to face the most balls in the power play. So I think they've both benefited from their attacking style and approach, and I think, you know, it's changed the landscape of the power play in IPL, and it's really exciting to see, especially when they get off," said Simon.