Abhishek Sharma, fresh from India's Asian Games gold-medal campaign, is already looking past the celebrations — urging his young teammates to convert a moment of triumph into a lasting culture of winning as India begin their new home season against the West Indies.

The Challenge of Sustaining Success

The 26-year-old opener, who was part of India's World Cup-winning side, stressed that repeating success demands the team preserve the same processes and collective hunger that fuelled the title run. Speaking to JioStar, Abhishek was candid about the difficulty of maintaining standards once a peak has been reached.

'I feel, in cricket especially, when I came, I was 24, now I am 26, as a young cricketer, you tell yourself that there's still a lot to achieve, it's just a start. Doing it once, I feel, is still easy, but making that thing a habit and doing it again and again, keeping the process the same, it's not easy as a player. But if the atmosphere in the team is such that everyone wants to perform for each other, wants to make India win, wants to dominate, then I feel it becomes a habit and it definitely helps,' he said.

Building a Winning Environment

For Abhishek, the emphasis lies less on past achievements and more on nurturing an environment where winning becomes a recurring outcome. He believes a collective desire to succeed — where every player performs for each other rather than for individual glory — is what separates a one-off success from sustained dominance. This philosophy, he said, was central to India's recent campaign and must carry into the home season ahead.

Mentoring Vaibhav Sooryavanshi

That winning-culture mindset also shapes how Abhishek approaches his role as a senior figure in the dressing room. His 15-year-old opening partner, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, has emerged as one of Indian cricket's most-watched young talents, and Abhishek is making a conscious effort to ensure the teenager feels settled.

'He is a very smart guy. He is not like how we used to behave at 15 or anyone does because he has already been in that cricket setup for 2-3 years. So he knows what, where, and how much to practice,' Abhishek said. He added that the entire squad is focused on making Sooryavanshi comfortable: 'What we discuss in the team with each other, all teammates, is how we can make him more comfortable. Because we all know what he has achieved and that he belongs here. So I also feel like it's my duty as well, to make him feel that all of us, his elder brothers, are here for him. You just have to enjoy and just give your best and win the games whenever you get the chance.'

West Indies Series as the First Test

The upcoming series against the West Indies offers India their first opportunity to begin translating World Cup momentum into a sustained home-season winning run. For a young squad increasingly defined by its collective ambition, how it responds to the routine demands of a home series — rather than the high-stakes pressure of a tournament — will be an early indicator of whether that winning habit is truly taking root.