Sunrisers Hyderabad bowling coach Varun Aaron dismissed doubts over Abhishek Sharma’s maturity, even during the opener’s lean patch, and praised his sharp cricketing mind after the batter’s unbeaten 135 against Delhi Capitals in their IPL clash here.
Abhishek anchored the innings from start to finish in SRH’s commanding 47-run victory on Tuesday, showcasing a full range of strokes in a scintillating 135 not out off 68 balls. The knock helped secure the team’s fourth win in seven matches this season.
The young opener had struggled early in the T20 World Cup co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka earlier this year, but rediscovered form at the crucial stage of the tournament to play a key role in India lifting the trophy.
He has carried that momentum into the IPL.
"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," said Aaron in the post-match press conference.
Aaron said Abhishek showed he has a sharp cricketing mind, batting with caution early on before shifting 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.
While young pacer Sakib Hussain kept the Delhi Capitals batters in check and picked up a wicket, it was Sri Lankan right-arm quick Eshan Malinga who ripped the heart out of the chase with figures of 4 for 32 after SRH set a target of 243.
Aaron said the variations bowled and incisiveness shown by the two bowlers were simply outstanding.
"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 added that ahead of the IPL season, SRH focused on bowlers who would deliver irrespective of the surface on offer.
"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.
Speaking highly of the 21-year-old Sakib, Aaron said what stands out is his variations, noting that a 140 kmph bowler can get clobbered in the IPL but the variety he brings to the table has done the trick.
"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."
Aaron said Sakib has responded really well to the training workload since being picked up at the IPL 2026 auction.
"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," concluded Aaron.
(With inputs from PTI)