Legendary India all-rounder Yuvraj Singh has played a crucial role in Abhishek Sharma‘s rise to riches. Abhishek recently earned his maiden Central Contract as he was placed under Grade C by the BCCI in its 2024-25 annual player retainership. However, Abhishek’s journey to the top hasn’t been an easy one, ask Yuvraj Singh, who took him under his wings when he was a teenager. The 24-year-old has never missed an opportunity to mention Yuvraj’s name for shaping his career.
Yuvraj’s father, Yograj Singh, has revealed his son first discovered Abhishek’s talent during various age-group tournaments organised by the Punjab Cricket Association (PCA). When Yuvraj asked PCA for Abhishek’s stats, they had listed him as a bowler.
“When we asked about a list of Abhishek Sharma’s performances from the PCA and the coaches. Do you know what they said? Sir, he is a bowler. He bowls. Yuvi said, ‘You just look at his performance records.’ So, when we saw the record, Abhishek already had 24 hundreds. Yuvi said, ‘Why are you giving wrong information? Why? This man has made 24 centuries’. This was six or seven years ago,” Yograj told News 18 Punjabi.
“And when Yuvi sent that record to me, he said, ‘Papa, look at this player.’ I said, look, this is all about sharing the information. This is the problem: some people want to finish the player out of jealousy instead of making their own career,” he added.
Yograj also recalled how Abhishek’s father was struggling to control his flamboyant lifestyle, only for Yuvraj to intervene. The rest as they say is history. Yuvraj stopped Abhishek from attending late-night parties and meeting girlfriends at odd hours.
“Late night parties… girlfriend. What happened then? Yuvraj said, ‘Lock him. ‘ He came under Yuvraj Singh’s wings as his father couldn’t handle him. Yuvi shouted, ‘Where are you?’. I heard him shout. ‘It’s 9 pm, go to bed. Do you understand me? I am coming.’ He then handed over the phone and went to bed. Yuvi then told his father to wake him up at 5 am,” Yograj revealed.
Yograj added Yuvraj also handled Shubman Gill‘s situation the same way.
“This is exactly what happened with Shubman Gill. But then what happened? When the diamond lands into the hands of another diamond, what becomes of it? It turns into Kohinoor, and that’s what happened with Abhishek Sharma. If this diamond had gone into the wrong hands of a spade, it would have broken and scattered. Many players in India broke and scattered,” he pointed out.
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