It came as a bit of a surprise when SRH management decided to name Ishan Kishan the stand-in captain for IPL 2026, when Pat Cummins was not available. This is when there were options like Abhishek Sharma and Nitish Kumar Reddy in the team. Now, Yuvraj Singh, who is the mentor of Abhishek, has opened up on the entire issue.
Yuvraj Singh expresses disappointment
And there is bound to be some disappointment as Abhishek joined the team much before Ishan, and has come up with a lot more stellar performances for the team. Yuvraj went on to explain why he wasn’t the happiest with this decision. “I was a bit disappointed. I also love Ishan Kishan. I have seen his growth in Indian cricket as well. Let me give you an example from the player’s perspective: if you switch it, Abhishek Sharma came into the team before the World Cup, his state team won, he scored 100, then he came into the World Cup team, Abhishek Sharma scored runs, India won the World Cup, and then they made Abhishek the captain.
“In franchise cricket, Ishan Kishan has been playing for one franchise for seven years, performing, giving his heart and soul for the franchise, then he is captaining the state, and then he does not get the captaincy, he gets the vice-captaincy. What frame of mind will he play franchise cricket with, without disappointment? But the good thing is that he said he has a good relationship with Ishan,” Yuvraj said on Sports Tak.
Abhishek Sharma should have been SRH skipper
In fact, Yuvi went on to draw parallels from his own time, when MS Dhoni was handed the captaincy despite not being part of the leadership group earlier. “For example, when I was in the Indian team, Bhajji was senior, Sehwag was senior, then I was somewhere, I was the vice-captain. This is about 2007. But out of nowhere, MS Dhoni comes and becomes captain, whatever the reasons were. When MS Dhoni was made captain, it was like someone destined to captain and do great things for India. That’s going to happen. But I’m just saying from a player’s perspective, it’s disappointing when someone has done so much for you in so many years,” Yuvraj added.
Abhishek has been playing with SRH since 2017, and has played 76 matches. There he has scored 1808 runs at an average of 26, and has picked up 11 wickets also.
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