NEW DELHI: Former India star all-rounder Yuvraj Singh's hard work with his protégé Abhishek Sharma has paid off handsomely, as the young batter has taken T20I cricket by storm in a short span of time, becoming the fastest batter to reach 1,000 runs in T20Is in terms of balls faced (528 balls).

The top-ranked T20I batter achieved the feat during the fifth and final match against Australia in Brisbane on Saturday.

Yuvraj recently shared a light-hearted anecdote about Abhishek, revealing the youngster's quirky obsession with his bats. Although Abhishek is generous in most aspects, he's fiercely possessive when it comes to his gear - refusing to lend out his bats to anyone, no matter how many he owns.

"You can take anything from Abhishek Sharma, but nobody can take a bat from him. Ye mar jayega, pit jayega, ro dega par apna bat nahi dega (He will fight for it, even cry, but won't give away his bat)," Yuvraj said during an interaction where Abhishek was also present.

"Even if he has 10 bats, he'll still say, 'I only have two.' He took all my bats, but never gives his own," he added.

'I've learned what coaching truly means'

Yuvraj believes that mentoring Abhishek over the past few years has helped him grasp the finer aspects of coaching - lessons he wishes he'd had access to during his own playing days.

"I think working with Abhishek over the years has also kind of made me understand that what are the things that you need to do as a coach, or as a mentor," Yuvraj told PTI.

"I have also learnt through that journey how to help a talent grow and whatever programmes that we did and whatever targets that we have, it is because he has worked so hard to reach and that's why the performances are showing.

"The work ethic that Abhishek has shown and effort that he has put in is not just for the last 6-9 months, it is the work of last four to five years and now the results are showing," he elaborated.