During Abhishek Sharma’s undefeated 135 against Delhi Capitals in the IPL 2026 encounter in Hyderabad on Tuesday, Sunrisers Hyderabad bowling coach Varun Aaron dismissed any lack of maturity on his part, even while he was going through a difficult period, and praised his keen cricketing mind.
In SRH’s decisive 47-run victory over Delhi Capitals, Abhishek batted the entire game, using his entire repertoire to smash an undefeated 135 off 68 deliveries. With eight points from seven games, SRH moved up to third place in the standings after winning their third straight game.
After a terrible start in the T20 World Cup, which India and Sri Lanka co-hosted earlier this year, the youthful opener found his form in the crucial final match against New Zealand, smashing a quickfire 52 off 21 balls. In the IPL, the left-hander has maintained that form.
“I think he’s always had that maturity and that’s been there over the last couple of years. You can’t be the number one T20 batsman in the world without being mature. Obviously, he’s somebody who sees the opposition, sees the surface and decides to play a certain way,” PTI quoted Aaron as saying in the post-match press conference.
According to Aaron, Abhishek demonstrated his keen cricketing intellect by batting cautiously at first before changing gears and going hard at the bowling.
“Today (Tuesday), it wasn’t the surface where you could just go hell for leather every single ball. So you have to respect the opponent, you have to respect the surface and he (Abhishek) did exactly that.
“And I think he’s shown glimpses of this in the past but obviously when you play a high risk, high reward kind of a game, sometimes it doesn’t work out and you have to give a player like Abhishek that leeway,” added Aaron.
After SRH set a target of 243, Sri Lankan right-arm quick Eshan Malinga destroyed the chase with figures of 4 for 32, while rookie bowler Sakib Hussain held the Delhi Capitals batsmen in check and claimed a wicket.
According to Aaron, the two bowlers’ variations and sharpness were just exceptional.
“They’ve got skills that set them apart from any other bowler. If we talk about Malinga, he gets the ball to reverse. We saw reverse from the 11th, 12th over today, which gets tough for the opponent because with the white ball, you really can’t see where the shiny side is.
“And then he can execute his yorkers, has a brilliant slow ball and can ball 140 plus, 145 almost. And with Sakib, that slow ball is just brilliant. He’s almost getting as much turn as an off spin on the slow ball, same arm speed, executes his yorkers, can ball 140 plus as well,” explained Aaron.
He continued by saying that SRH concentrated on bowlers who could perform on any surface before the IPL season.
“So with the way the game is headed and with the way IPL is going, you have to have that pace variance where you can go from 140-145 down to almost 107 because Sakib’s one of his slow balls, 107.
“Going into this year, one of our plans were to have bowlers who can offer something to the captain irrespective of the surface. So, if you talk about Sakib and Malinga, they almost remove the surface from the equation with their skills. That stood out for me and for everybody,” added Aaron.
Aaron praised the 21-year-old Sakib, saying that his versatility is what makes him stand out. He pointed out that although a bowler with a speed of 140 kmph can get hammered in the IPL, Sakib’s diversity has worked.
“It’s again that variance. I’ve seen Shakib for almost two years. He always had the pace, very quick arm action, very awkward. So as a batsman, especially at the Rajeev Gandhi Stadium, on our wicket, if you have a beautiful action and you bowl 140 plus, you’re just going to get lined up.
“You’ve just got to have some difference and obviously that slow ball is brilliant. So he had the skills. Obviously, he didn’t have the access to getting coached long term and he’s put in a lot of work over the last couple of months. We’ve had camps for him specifically. He’s flown down to Bombay for five days, then we’ve called him to Chennai.”
Since being selected at the IPL 2026 auction, Sakib has responded admirably to the training workload, according to Aaron.
“There has been a lot of work which has gone behind the scenes immediately after the auction and he’s responded really well and he has that will, he has that hunger.
“That’s the most important thing and obviously you might have the best skills in the world but if you don’t have the will and don’t have the hunger, it’s not going to work out,” said Aaron.
