Gautam Gambhir shares how he helped Abhishek Sharma to deal with his bad patch during the T20 World Cup 2026. The southpaw had a nightmare in the group stage of the tournament, recording three back-to-back ducks. When the cricket fans started to doubt Sharma, who was once known for toying with the opposing bowlers, the team management, led by head coach Gautam Gambhir, backed him during the lows.
The team’s head coach revealed how he helped Sharma to overcome and boost morale. Gambhir said that the batter was not out of form, but out of runs. The former cricketer shared his own experience to motivate Abhishek.
Gautam Gambhir revealed how he helped Abhishek Sharma mentally during the rough times
Gambhir recalled the IPL 2014 season when he sustained a hat-trick of ducks. From there, he bounced back strongly, keeping faith in his natural game. The former opener asked Abhishek Sharma to do the same, and he asked him to never lose trust in his instincts. Despite the horror show, he concluded the IPL 2014 season with 335 runs in 16 matches.
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By nature, the emerging opener is an aggressive batter, who loves to smash the bowlers all over the ground. The coach urged him to do what he can do best— batting with aggression, even from the very first ball of the match.
Gautam Gambhir refused to say Abhishek was out of form; for him, the batter was out of runs. According to the veteran, as the batter got out quickly in most of the matches, before facing 20 to 30 deliveries, he did not consider him an out-of-form batter.
Gautam Gambhir mentioned his poor form in the IPL 2014
“I’ve had a worse experience than him in 2014 during the IPL, when I got three ducks in a row and then another in the fourth game as well. All I told him was that people will look at your scores and will talk about your form, but actually, you are not out of form; you are just out of runs. The only time you can change your form is when you have played 20 to 30 balls in the middle, and he hasn’t even faced 20 balls yet”, Gautam Gambhir said speaking on JioStar’s ‘Follow the Blues’.
Coach only wanted to see Abhishek Sharma attacking the bowler from the first ball of the next match. He told the young batter that what people outside the ground said mattered nothing, his duty was to think only about the team, looking at him for the entire journey. Gambhir motivated the opener to perform for the team members. In the final match of the T20 World Cup 2026, Sharma amassed a half-century against New Zealand as part of a winning effort.
The head coach asked Abhishek Sharma to think only about the team
“All I wanted him to do was go out there in the next game and be even more aggressive compared to what he was in the previous game. If you want to hit the first ball out of the ground, go and do it, and commit yourself to it 100 per cent because it really doesn’t matter what the world thinks about you,” the team India head coach Gautam Gambhir described.
“All that matters is what those 30 people in the dressing room think about you, and that is exactly what should matter to all the boys. There was no doubt whatsoever about Abhishek. For anyone, to be honest, in that dressing room, we always had faith and trust in everyone who was selected to represent the country in the T20 World Cup,” he added.
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