NEW DELHI: Former Indian cricket icon Yuvraj Singh is not only Abhishek Sharma’s boyhood hero but had also spotted his potential and mentored him during the Covid-19 outbreak.

Labeled as one for the future, Punjab all-rounder Abhishek boasts of high-profile coaches and mentors like Yuvraj Singh, Brian Lara, and Rahul Dravid besides his father Raj Kumar Sharma – himself a cricket coach.

Abhishek has also been motivated by his Punjab teammate Shubman Gill, the opening batter and orthodox left-arm spinner who had a pretty good run in domestic tournaments and the IPL to make it to the Indian cricket team in the shortest format.

Yuvraj had even heaped praise on Abhishek when he had hit a hundred in Zimbabwe in July this year.

And now Abhishek is a part of the Suryakumar Yadav-led Indian side that is scheduled to play four T20Is in South Africa from November 8.

Ahead of the series, the Indian cricket board (BCCI) shared a clip of a video where Abhishek shares his thoughts on coming to Kingsmead, Durban where the first T20I is set to take place and also where Abhishek’s mentor Yuvraj had famously smashed England’s Stuart Broad for six sixes in an over in the 2007 T20 World Cup.

Looking around the ground, Abhishek reflects, “I have come here for the first time, but when I saw it (the ground) on TV and now that I am here, it’s like a dream come true. I was inspired by Yuvraj Singh’s six sixes in 2007. The first day when I came here I was trying to figure out from what end to which end he had hit the sixes. He had sixes all over the ground, it’s a great memory.”

Recalling the historic moment, Abhishek continues, “I still remember I was watching the match with my family at home and when we won the match, the whole colony came out and we celebrated the victory. It hadn’t occurred to me that I would get a chance to play here (Durban) but I had made up my mind that cricket would be my career. I am sure that Yuvraj will watch me playing here as I was inspired by watching him play here. My message for him (Yuvraj) is that I will try my best and will make him proud.”

The South Africa tour was not originally part of India’s schedule but was recently arranged following discussions between the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and Cricket South Africa (CSA).

The T20I series will be played across four venues: Durban, Gqeberha, Centurion, and Johannesburg, with matches scheduled for November 8, 10, 13, and 15.

India T20I squad for the South Africa series: Suryakumar Yadav (C), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (WK), Rinku Singh, Tilak Varma, Jitesh Sharma (WK), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Ramandeep Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Avesh Khan, Yash Dayal