Abhishek Sharma messaged his childhood mate Shubman Gill and asked for a bat following his hat-trick of ducks at the start of the T20 World Cup believing it would help him return to form.
“Maine hi message kiya tha isko 3 ducks ke baad ke mujhe bat de de, isse pehle koi aur record bann jae (I told him to give me his bat before I ended up with an unwanted record),” Abhishek said during the recent BCCI Naman awards.
The 25-year-old Abhishek also recalled Gill’s response: “Usne bola tha, tu kar lega (You’ll manage it).”
But did Gill offer any advice to Abhishek in his time of crisis?
“No. 1 T20I batsman in the world ko kaun advice dega (Who is going to advise the world’s No. 1 T20I batter?),” Gill, India’s ODI and Test captain, said.
Abhishek, who scored a blistering 52 off 21 balls in the T20 World Cup final, was asked whose bat he liked the most, and he did not even pause: “Shubman ka hi.”
“Woh mere bat se hi khelta hai hamesha (He plays with my bat all the time anyway),” Gill quipped with a smile.