With his blitzkrieg century against Afghanistan, the left-handed opener proves why he is the most exciting player in the shortest format.
Opening batsman Abhishek Sharma established a record T20 century, achieving the milestone in just 30 balls, thereby enabling India to secure a dominant 127-run victory in the third encounter against Afghanistan and clinch the series with a 3-0 whitewash.
The left-handed batsman’s century on Thursday represented the fastest T20 international hundred among full Test-playing nations as he propelled India to a total of 221-7 at New Delhi’s Arun Jaitley Stadium.
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Afghanistan, serving as the official series hosts, temporarily halted India’s momentum following Abhishek’s dismissal at 108 off 34 balls, after which India’s performance deteriorated from a position of 142-1 in 10 overs. Nevertheless, the Afghan batting lineup once again underperformed, being dismissed for 94 in 14.1 overs.
Afghanistan had accumulated 156-8 and 159-8 while batting first in the opening two matches.
Left-arm spinner Axar Patel claimed two wickets in his opening over, removing Rahmanullah Gurbaz for 15 and Sediqullah Atal for one. Afghanistan proved unable to recover from these early setbacks. Fast bowler Nitish Kumar Reddy also captured two wickets in a single over, finishing with figures of 3-25.
His most impressive individual score during the opening six overs of a T20I—76 not out off 22 balls against Afghanistan in the third T20I in Delhi—further demonstrates this aggressive methodology. Travis Head’s 73 not out off 22 against Scotland in Edinburgh during 2024 ranks second on this list.
Consequently, he not only bats with exceptional speed but also capitalizes on favorable opportunities, effectively commanding the game during the PowerPlay phase itself. He foregoes the customary period of assessing pitch conditions, instead leveraging the initial six overs as a platform for aggressive batting. Currently, he possesses unparalleled PowerPlay dominance.
Simultaneously, he maintains an unmatched frequency of six-hitting. He has accumulated 100 T20 sixes in merely 785 balls, the quickest rate of all players. West Indies’ Evin Lewis follows with 789 balls required. He strikes a six every 7.57 balls, which represents the superior rate among Indian batsmen with a minimum of 50 sixes, substantially surpassing Sanju Samson (10.45), Shivam Dube (10.88), Suryakumar Yadav (11.21), and Yuvraj Singh (11.66).
He also owns the record for the most T20I fifties scored in 20 balls or fewer (6) and 25 balls or fewer (13). He has, in fact, threatened his mentor Yuvraj Singh’s record for the fastest T20I fifty on at least three occasions.
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