‘Coach and captain told me I was going to win big games’ – Abhishek Sharma credits Gautam Gambhir, Suryakumar Yadav after India’s T20 World Cup triumph

Indian opener Abhishek Sharma credited coach Gautam Gambhir and captain Suryakumar Yadav for the trust they showed in persisting with him throughout the 2026 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup despite his poor form.

After a dry spell with the bat, where he scored just 89 runs with three ducks in the tournament, Abhishek stepped up in the final against New Zealand in Ahmedabad, scoring an impressive 52 off just 21 balls, setting the platform for India to go on and get to 255/5 in their 20 overs. His half-century came off just 18 balls, the fastest in this year’s tournament.

“I wanted to share this before as well but today is the best day to talk about this thing: The coach and the captain had faith in me. Even I was doubting myself because it wasn’t an easy tournament for me,” he said.

Abhishek explained that playing in his first World Cup was surreal and appreciates the support of his teammates during his lean phase in the tournament.

“I hadn’t experienced [anything like] this before – playing my first World Cup. But everyone was so like, you are going to win one big game, one big game. So I was doing my process but it was not that easy as a young player, just one or two years in the Indian team and then going through this phase. But I just love this team for the way they treated me in those days; I have never felt this way before,” he added.

He further iterated the struggles he faced throughout this tournament and how much the support of his coach and teammates meant to him during the duration of the tournament.

“It was not that easy for me. Through the whole year, I was doing so well for the team but at the big occasion, I wasn’t able to do well. But the faith and confidence the players and the coaches showed in me… I got emotional in between as well. I wanted to do really well in all the games but I couldn’t. Then I was like, I wanted to talk to the coach or the captain. They always said one thing: ‘You are going to win us the big games.” I just wanted to wait for that day. You cannot ask for a better day than this,” he concluded.

India’s win on Sunday, March 8, made them the first team to successfully defend the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, They are now also the first team to win the trophy three times, and the first host-nation to win the trophy.