Though Abhishek Sharma slammed a fiery 21-ball 52 in the final of the T20 World Cup 2026, former India player Yograj Singh is not happy with the opener. Yograj’s son Yuvraj is a mentor to Abhishek as well as Shubman Gill. However, Yograj said that Abhishek’s focus was not entirely on cricket and added that he had to play defensively too sometimes. “It would take him another age to go closer to Yuvraj Singh. The whole universe works on discipline. That’s how cricketers should work. Where are cricketers going wrong? Parties, girls, money, shooting all the time,” Yograj said in an interview to InsideSport.
Yograj went on to say that he was “disgusted” with Abhishek Sharma. Yograj claimed he had even messaged Abhishek. World No. 1 T20I batter Abhishek scored 141 in eight matches at the T20 World Cup. He scored two half-centuries but was also out for 0 thrice.
“I’m very disgusted with him (Sharma). There are times when I drop him messages – don’t take this game for granted. He will always say ‘yes sir’. There is something called a single, a double and a boundary. Every time you cannot hit the ball in the air. You cannot keep hitting sixes and entertaining the crowd. You will fail,” Yograj said.
He even took the name of Shubman Gill.
“You fail because your mind is somewhere else. What is happening to Shubman Gill, Abhishek? The failure comes only when your mind is diverted somewhere else. That is what is happening with Abhishek. The guy walks around doing reels, that isn’t his job. He should bloody well go to bed at 9 PM and wake up at 5 AM and play a thousand balls,” Yograj added.
Also, Ravichandran Ashwin‘s statement that Arjun Tendulkar would not get a chance in Lucknow Super Giants’ playing XI was not taken well by Yograj. He had briefly coached Arjun in the past.
“He is talking bullshit. This guy Ashwin, whoever he is. He should know what to talk about somebody. Somebody’s sitting on the television and talking, ‘Oh, he can’t do this, he can’t do that.’ Arey tum kya ho bhai (Who are you? What are you)?” Yograj said on InsideSport.
“When cricketers talk like this… He is Sachin Tendulkar‘s son, that is a different story. When he was here, I told Yuvi that all of you are concentrating on the wrong thing regarding Arjun Tendulkar. He is not a bowler; he had a spine problem, and his hands come down from 45 degrees. When he was here, I was talking to him. I told his coach as well when he was with the Goa team. When he (Arjun) was batting, this guy was hitting sixes and boundaries. I told the coach, ‘What the hell are you people doing? If you can’t do it, send him to me’,” he added.