Abhishek Sharma, the left-hand opener, cracked a blazing 37-ball hundred, in the fifth T20I, versus England, at the Wankhede Stadium. In that process, Abhishek also became the second-fastest Indian to reach that landmark in T20Is. Rohit Sharma had reached that mark off just 35 deliveries, against Sri Lanka, in December 2017.
The southpaw smashed the sixth ball he faced from Jofra Archer for a boundary, and he didn’t look back since. Archer went on to give away two sixes in that over, with the second of those shots sailing over deep extra cover. Mark Wood also was deposited into the stands once in the very next over. By then, India had crossed the 50-run mark in just the fourth over. The carnage continued as Jamie Overton was taken to the cleaners, with the all-rounder giving away 25 runs in a single over. The loft over Overton’s head took Abhishek past the 50-run mark in a mere 17 deliveries, which also turned out to be second-fastest T20I fifty by an Indian.
India’s hundred came up in just the 7th over. By the time Abhishek reached the coveted three-figure mark, India were galloping at over 14 an over. The crux of Abhishek’s innings was his clean-hitting: He smashed no fewer than 13 sixes in his astonishing innings. The highlight of the knock was how he lofted some of the fastest bowlers going around into the downtown territories and over extra cover. Even his one-handed shots raced away to the boundary rope.
Incidentally, his stand-and-deliver method is reminiscent of Travis Head’s style of batting, who happens to be his teammate at Sunrisers Hyderabad.