New Delhi, May 28 (IANS): Sunrisers Hyderabad batter Abhishek Sharma dazzled the 2024 Indian Premier League (IPL) with his ability to clear all sides of the park as he hammered 484 runs in 16 innings with a strike rate of 204.02.

In an exclusive conversation with IANS, Rajkumar Sharma, Abhishek’s father and childhood coach talked about the impact that players like Yuvraj Singh and Rahul Dravid have had on the young gun’s career.

“I feel very good when world-class players like Yuvraj Singh train young kids then there could not be anything better than that. Yuvi has had a huge impact on his career, he worked really hard and used to make him train all day and night,” Rajkumar Sharma told IANS.

“He used to consider Yuvraj as his idol and used to say ‘Mai Yuvi paaji ke tarah batting karunga’ (I want to bat like Yuvraj Singh). He used to watch his videos and once they started training together even Yuvi himself said ki ‘mujhe aise lag raha hai mai khud batting karraha hun’ (It seems like I am batting) and then he and his entire team used to train him, Yuvi used to himself stand and watch him bat,” he added.

The left-handed opener made a solid statement throughout the course of the 2024 season of the IPL. He scored at a blistering strike rate of 204.22 during the season and put on some absolutely blistering knocks alongside Travis Head.

Rajkumar went on to talk about how talented and gifted his son was and how his talent lead him to meet some of the biggest names in cricket who all ultimately helped him shine at the brightest stage.

“I used to get good bowlers and he used to hit sixes and even clear the ball out of the stadium. Everyone used to be shocked that a kid hits long sixes. And I used to tell everyone he was gifted. When he got older he went to professional coaches and top players and I thanked them for this result. He met Yuvraj Singh, Rahul Dravid and Brian Lara and started traveling the country and playing well.”