IPL 2024: Abhishek Sharma’s secret of success - A pep talk with Brian Lara
The SRH batter scored the franchise’s fastest 50 and laid the foundation for a humongous score to help SRH beat MI
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Sunrisers Hyderabad’s Abhishek Sharma could put no foot wrong on a humid Wednesday night. The southpaw from Amritsar took the Mumbai Indians bowlers to the cleaners as he scored 63 off just 23 balls (three fours, seven sixes, strike rate of 273.91) to help SRH beat MI by 31 runs in their IPL league match in Hyderabad on Wednesday.
Sharma came to the crease with an intent to express himself, something that the team management has been stressing over this season. Walking in at No. 3 after the fall of Mayank Agarwal, Sharma started off by pulling Gerald Coetzee for a six over long leg. The shot gave him the much needed confidence to express himself as he took Piyush Chawla to the cleaners the next over, carting him for three sixes.
Mumbai Indians fielders were on a leather hunt, as there was no stopping Sharma. He scored two more sixes and as many boundaries off Kwena Maphaka to bring up his half-century in just 16 balls, a new franchise record.
When he was out next over to Chawla, he had done the damage, inflicted deep wounds on the MI bowlers, and laid the perfect foundation for Aiden Markram and Heinrich Klassen to continue the onslaught.
Speaking about the innings, Sharma revealed the secret of his success - a pep talk with West Indian legend Brian Lara on the eve of the game. “I had a chance to talk to Brian Lara last night, that really helped me,” he said at the post match presentation ceremony after collecting the man-of-the-match award.
Sharma said he took confidence from the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament, where his team Punjab trounced Baroda to win the tournament. “Yes, I carried a lot of confidence from there (SMAT). We have a lot of Punjabi boys in the team and we carried the confidence,” he added.
He said batting with Travis Head, who is one of his favourite batters, made it easy for him to go for the kill. “The message for the batters has been pretty simple - go out and express yourself, and that has been great for me. Head is one of my favourite batters, I really admire his batting. I had a great time batting with him,” he added.
