“Hit the first ball out of the ground, doesn't matter what the world thinks”: Gambhir reveals advice to Abhishek

Ahmedabad—India head coach Gautam Gambhir has lifted the lid on the pep-talk that helped opener Abhishek Sharma rediscover his mojo midway through the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026, a tournament India eventually won to become the first side to lift the trophy for a third time.

Speaking on JioStar’s Follow the Blues, Gambhir recalled how the 20-year-old’s early-tournament rut—three consecutive ducks against USA, Pakistan and Netherlands—prompted a blunt but empowering message: stop worrying about scorecards and start swinging from the hip.

“I’ve had a worse experience than him in 2014 during the IPL, when I got three ducks in a row and another in the fourth game,” Gambhir said. “All I told him was that people will look at your scores and talk about your form, but actually you are not out of form; you are just out of runs. The only time you can judge your form is when you have played 20 to 30 balls in the middle, and he hasn’t even faced 20 balls yet.”

The conversation, held the evening before India’s fourth group game, ended with a licence to attack: “If you want to hit the first ball out of the ground, go and do it, and commit yourself to it 100 per cent because it really doesn’t matter what the world thinks about you. All that matters is what those 30 people in the dressing room think about you.”

Abhishek responded with a 30-ball 55 against Zimbabwe—still his only fifty of the event—and although he finished the competition with only 89 runs at 12.71, the team never lost faith. India went on to wallop New Zealand by 96 runs in the final at the Narendra Modi Stadium, defending their title and making history as the first host nation to win back-to-back T20 World Cups.

Gambhir stressed that the dressing-room belief was universal. “There was no doubt whatsoever about Abhishek. For anyone, to be honest, in that dressing room, we always had faith and trust in everyone who was selected to represent the country in the T20 World Cup.”

Prior to the tournament, Abhishek sat atop the T20I batting rankings, courtesy of 1,377 runs in 43 innings at a strike rate of 194.74, with 131 fours and 93 sixes. The lean World Cup numbers did little to dent the management’s conviction that his fearless intent could flip matches in a trice.

As the confetti settled on India’s third T20 crown, Gambhir’s simple mantra—back yourself, ignore the noise—emerged as the defining sound-bite of a campaign that turned potential crisis into historic triumph.