Had I been fast-tracked, I wouldn’t have got time to work on my game: Abhishek

He was an integral part of an U-19 World Cup-winning Indian team but it took Abhishek Sharma more than six years to break into the senior set-up and he is glad that he wasn’t fast-tracked like some of his batch-mates.

Within a year of the 2018 junior World Cup triumph, his erstwhile skipper Prithvi Shaw made his Test debut and best buddy Shubman Gill broke into the ODI side.

Abhishek agrees that while they took the “lift”, he benefitted from taking the “staircase”.

The 25-year-old was India’s standout batter in the just-concluded Asia Cup, amassing 314 runs in seven games with three scores of 50-plus and an astounding strike-rate of nearly 200.

“Some get straight (into the team). Some do everything. So I felt that I needed to do everything. Because as a player, if I had come straight into the team, then I would not have got a chance to learn all the things that I did learn,” said the newest heart-throb of India’s T20 set-up.

The years spent in domestic cricket helped him sharpen his skills and know more about his own game.

“I got a lot of time to try many things. To work on my game as normally, many players do not get that chance. I got more time hence worked a lot on my game,” he said.

What stood out about him during the recent campaign was his bat swing and subtle adjustments when he went on attack even when he could defend.

“Like now, I am playing T20. I used to think how could I come in the team? What more could I have done and obviously, I feel that this is just the beginning of (journey) of our team. There is still a long way to go. Miracles will happen,” the youngster exuded confidence.

Save the final against Pakistan in which he got out early, Abhishek looked very comfortable, scoring at a 200 plus strike rate. He gave a lot of credit to head coach Gautam Gambhir and skipper Suryakumar Yadav for allowing him to take risks.

“I have never felt that this is a pressure match. We have prepared for all the matches equally. The way I play, I needed confidence and both Gauti paaji and Surya paaji gave me a lot of freedom because when you want to play like this, your performance can go up and down,” he said.

“Obviously, if you want to play at such a high risk, then there will be failures. But the way they handled me at that time, the way they talked to me at that time. I think because of that I am able to play like this. Because it is very important that you have such support from the team.”