Indian cricket legends often take up the role of mentor for the younger generation, but few have left as strong an impact as Yuvraj Singh. The former India all-rounder has guided several budding cricketers, including Shubman Gill and Abhishek Sharma.
In a recent conversation with Curly Tales, Yuvraj’s mother, Shabnam Singh, shared an amusing yet revealing detail — both Shubman and Abhishek are still quite scared of their mentor.
Shabnam Singh explained that Yuvraj takes his mentoring duties seriously, even years after their training sessions together.
“He has these young kids – Shubman (Gill) and Abhishek (Sharma). He watches cricket and calls them in the evening to talk about how they played. They are just petrified of him.”
She added that Yuvraj maintains a close eye on their game and doesn’t shy away from giving them honest feedback.
Interestingly, Yuvraj also admitted that watching them play makes him nervous — a feeling he relates to from his own playing days.
“I watch Abhishek and Shubman bat. But my mom used to get nervous when I was talking. I also get nervous when they are batting. I have spent a lot of time with them when they were growing up.”
While Yuvraj continues to mentor from the sidelines, his proteges are making headlines on the field. In IPL 2025, Shubman Gill has been in stellar form, recently scoring his fifth fifty of the season at Eden Gardens.
Gill’s 90-run knock helped Gujarat Titans post a competitive 198/3 against the Kolkata Knight Riders. His consistent performance has taken his season tally to 417 runs, overtaking Nicholas Pooran in the race for top run-scorer.
Gill’s partner at the top, B Sai Sudharsan, also had a memorable outing. His 52 off 36 balls earned him the coveted Orange Cap and plenty of praise from fans and pundits alike.
Speaking mid-innings, Sudharsan credited his success to his chemistry with Gill and the skipper’s guidance on the field.
“At the start of the game, the pitch was really slow and we found it really difficult in the powerplay. After that, we got the speed of the wicket. Me and Shuby (Gill) had great communication, we tried to make use of the bad ball they gave us and tried to take the game deep. Have been enjoying the company with Shuby. His experience is helping me.”
Sudharsan has been a revelation this season, with an average of 52.13 and a strike rate of 152.18. He also reached the milestone of 1450 IPL runs and scored his 11th fifty in the tournament.
The left-hander believes their total is more than enough to give the Gujarat Titans bowlers a solid platform.
“It matters when the conditions are difficult and we try to make use of the running between the wickets. We understood the wicket was difficult so we tried to bat deep because wickets in hand is the most important thing. To be honest, we have given the bowlers a very good total to defend,” he concluded.
