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Yuvraj Singh wants Shubman Gill and Abhishek Sharma to play golf, believing that even he’d have scored ‘3000 more runs’ if he played golf.
Yuvraj Singh (L) and Shubman Gill.
(PC: X)
Yuvraj Singh wants his mentees, Shubman Gill and Abhishek Sharma, to play more golf in their spare time. The former India all-rounder believes that golf is an excellent sport for cricketers to relax, which can be beneficial for them instead of ‘over-practicing’ to get out of a poor rut of form.
Being a Punjab legend, Yuvraj has taken Gill and Abhishek under his wings, with the most famous story being the duo and Prabhsimran Singh spending several days of the Covid-19 lockdown at his farmhouse to hone their skills and fitness. Since retirement, he has taken up golf and has been investing in tournaments, too.
“I have told them to play golf and I encourage them to play,” he said at an event about Gill and Sharma, as quoted by The Times of India. “It’s very hard to find time, but I think the IPL is a good time for them to hit some balls. It’s up to them. Now they are superstars of the game and they have to decide what’s going to help them be better. If golf can be something, then they have to decide that. But I encourage all athletes to play golf. I think it’s a great way to unwind and it’s great for the mind.”
Asked if he regrets not playing more golf during his India career, Yuvraj replied in the affirmative.
“I would have scored 3,000 more runs,” said Yuvraj. “I tell all the young cricketers to try and play golf, hit the ball, see how you feel. Because sometimes too much practice is also not good for you. Sometimes when you’re not scoring runs, you want to practice more, and with golf as well, you want to hit more balls. But sometimes it’s good to relax,” he said.
“I feel that any sport that helps you relax is going to be less taxing on the body and more fruitful for the mind. If you see the culture of golf in Australia, South Africa, England—majority of the best cricketers have played golf from a very young age. You see a lot of these guys actually play a lot of golf and do less cricket practice during tours. You can’t change something in a game in three days. But how can you recover and be mentally fresh for a game? So I just feel it’s not just cricket. For any sportsperson in the world, they should play golf because it will eventually bring out the best in them in their sport.” he added.
Gill has been appointed as the T20I vice-captain while Abhishek is the top-ranked batter in the format. Both are expected to be starters for India at the upcoming 2025 Asia Cup in the UAE.
September 05, 2025, 16:32 IST
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