Abhishek Sharma recalls father backing him amid poor form: He tried puja and paath

Speaking at the India Today Conclave in New Delhi, Abhishek Sharma revealed how his father and family helped him overcome a difficult T20 World Cup campaign, during which he battled poor form before scoring a match-winning 18-ball fifty in the final against New Zealand.

Abhishek Sharma opened up on how his father stood by him and even performed paath and puja when he was going through a rough patch in the T20 World Cup. On March 8 in Ahmedabad, Abhishek became a world champion as India lifted the title for the third time and became the first team to successfully defend their T20 World Cup crown.

Abhishek smashed a match-winning 18-ball half-century in the final against New Zealand at the Narendra Modi Stadium, but the tournament had begun on a disastrous note for him, with three ducks against the United States, Pakistan and the Netherlands.

He also missed the group-stage match against Namibia due to a stomach-related illness. Although he scored a fifty against Zimbabwe in Mumbai in the Super 8s, he found it tough in India’s must-win matches against West Indies and England before finally showing his class in the summit clash.

Speaking at the India Today Conclave in New Delhi, Abhishek credited his father and family for helping him come through that difficult phase.

“If you ask him now, he would probably say he wasn’t worried or tense, but he definitely was. I could see he was upset. He even tried everything — paath and puja, things he had probably never done before,” Abhishek said.

“He had seen me go through similar phases in junior cricket for India as well, so it was not easy for him or my family to watch me go through this phase. But the way they handled it was remarkable. They came for all the games and tried to take me out to different places to keep my mind off things," Abhishek added.