IND vs NZ 2026: 'Yuvraj has told Abhishek Sharma to forget about red-ball cricket' - Former India batter's huge claim after 3rd T20I

Abhishek Sharma scored a duck on his T20I debut back in 2024 but followed it up with a blistering century in his second game for India. Since then, the Punjab batter hasn't looked back, as he has played some breathtaking knocks in the shortest format for the Men in Blue.

On Sunday, January 25, the southpaw decimated New Zealand in the third T20I at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati with a fabulous display of clean ball-striking. Abhishek brought up his half-century off just 14 balls, much to the joy of the Indian fans in attendance. He eventually finished unbeaten on 68 off 20 balls, belting seven fours and five sixes, as India chased down a 154-run target in just 10 overs with eight wickets to spare.

Former India batter Subramaniam Badrinath feels that Yuvraj Singh, who is the mentor of Abhishek, must have asked the left-handed batter to forget red-ball cricket and focus on making himself an indispensable part of the Indian T20I team. Badrinath believes that performances like these can only come when a player has clarity in his thought process.

"Yuvraj Singh may have helped him a lot technically and tactically. But I feel where he has helped the most is bringing clarity to Abhishek Sharma. The most important thing Yuvraj has seemingly told Abhisek is to forget about red-ball cricket. He has probably told Abhishek to focus only on white-ball cricket, especially T20 cricket, which comes naturally to him. No one could have given him better advice than this," Badrinath said on Star Sports.

Badrinath mentioned that the likes of Hardik Pandya and Virat Kohli, who are not playing all three formats of late, are finding success.

"In recent cricket, people who are playing only one format are doing exceedingly well. It gives them a lot of clarity on their skill sets. Sometimes when you play multiple formats, the formats get crossed over each other and you get confused. Look at Virat Kohli, he is playing only one format and taking his game to another level. Hardik Pandya is playing only T20 cricket and doing exceedingly well," he stated.

One-format players will soon become the norm with a completely different T20, ODI, and Test team: Badrinath

Badrinath opined that in the near future, there will be completely different teams for the three formats of international cricket.

"It gives a lot of clarity from the physical training and practice when you train for only one format. So you come fresher and much more fitter. It's going to be the future. One-format players will soon become the norm with a completely different T20, ODI, and Test team. It won't take too long before this happens. There will be a pool of around 45 players to play with different teams for each format," said Badrinath (via the aforementioned source).

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India sealed the series 3-0 with their win on Sunday. However, the last two matches are not mere formalities as the T20 World Cup is on the horizon and both teams will look to sort their combinations whilst getting some solid game time.