Ravichandran Ashwin kicks aside Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal as he names India’s next batting superstar

Former India National Cricket Team off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has picked the next batting superstar of India, and surprisingly, it's not Shubman Gill or Abhishek Sharma.

Ravichandran Ashwin stated that the explosive opener Abhishek Sharma is India's next batting superstar, as he has all the ingredients to become highly successful across formats.

Abhishek Sharma - The World No.1 T20I Batsman

The Indian T20I opener Abhishek currently occupies the No.1 position in the ICC Men's T20I Batting Rankings with a historic 926 rating points, and the person following him on the list at the second spot is Phil Salt with 849 rating points.

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Abhishek's 926 rating points are the best-ever achieved by any batsman in the history of T20I cricket as he broke the all-time record held by the former English batsman Dawid Malan.

He has been a revelation for Team India while opening the innings in T20I, and in the second game against Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, he looked in tremendous form.

At a time when all the other Indian batters were struggling to get going, Abhishek played his natural attacking brand of cricket and took the Australian bowlers head-on.

He continued his ultra-aggressive brand of batting during his entire stay in the middle and finished up with a score of 68 runs off 37 balls, with 8 fours and 2 sixes, as India ended up scoring 125 runs.

I truly believe, man, that the next batting superstar of India is Abhishek Sharma - Ravichandran Ashwin

In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Ravichandran Ashwin said that Abhishek Sharma is the next batting superstar of India, and his only challenge would be to control the downswing. Ravichandran Ashwin elaborated:

“I truly believe, man, that the next batting superstar of India is Abhishek Sharma. See, he doesn’t have a problem exactly, not a problem, but a challenge. “Problem” is a very big word. His challenge is to be able to control that downswing. I was reading somewhere that he still talks to Brian Lara because Lara had a huge backlift. His bat swing was magnificent too, so Abhishek spoke to Lara about controlling that bat swing to be able to play Test cricket.”

“So just think about his mindset, it’s ticking at that level. Even that day in Canberra, when the match was washed out, he was talking to Shubman Gill. From his gestures, it looked like he was talking about the bat swing and the pull shot. I even have a screenshot from the last game; he was a bit late on the pull shot then. But in this game, he made that correction. He found a way to get it over the top,” he added.

Abhishek Sharma has that gift - Ravichandran Ashwin

Ravichandran Ashwin further said that Abhishek Sharma has got special abilities as a batsman, which is god-gifted, and his bat swing is also remarkable. He said:

“All said and done, that bat swing, he actually stepped out today, charged down the track, and Australia bowled really well too. They were bowling tight lines, fuller lengths, taking the pace off. But that full ball, especially when you charge at a fast bowler and they try to bowl a yorker, you don’t have the width to free your arms. Yet, he was still able to open up his arms and hit it over covers for a boundary.”

“These are all very special abilities that a player possesses. I always say, we all work hard, but to make that hard work shine, you need a little gift, that God-given gift. Abhishek Sharma has that gift. He has the mind to think deeply about the game, and he is just an exceptionally talented batter. I wish I could keep watching him all day long. On a tough pitch and a tough day for India, once again, he gave us a beautiful exhibition of what good batsmanship in T20 cricket looks like."

Also Read: Virat Kohli IN, MS Dhoni OUT! Nicholas Pooran picks top 5 all-time T20 batters