I haven’t seen a better T20 hundred against bowlers who routinely bowl at 140-150 kph. Gautam Gambhir was astounded by the pace, power, and precision of his stunning innings, which would become India’s highest T20I individual score. Abhishek Sharma was on a tear, scoring at an eye-popping strike rate of 250 against bowlers who were moving at breakneck pace. On Sunday night, Jofra Archer, Mark Wood, Brydon Carse, and Jamie Overton were scrambling for cover at the Wankhede Stadium after bowling over 145k mph.
Tilak Varma had already hammered the tearaway Jofra Archer over cover the night before, and at the Wankhede, Abhishek went one step further, slamming him twice over, first over cover and then extra cover in the third over of the innings, the pacer’s second. He had already smacked him for a boundary a few deliveries prior, laying the groundwork for a night in which he was relentless and unstoppable. Archer had come to India with a reputation as a deadly speed bowler. He would leave the country in shambles as a result of the devastation wrought by Abhishek.
“That’s the cleanest ball striking I’ve seen. I think he played quite well. We always sit down and think about what else we could have done or how we could have stopped him, but some days I believe you have to give a lot of credit to the opponent. “I thought he played brilliantly well,” Jos Buttler said later of the Indian opener’s devastation, in which the first 50 came off just 17 balls.
Buttler went on to say, “Abhishek is such a talent, with excellent, crisp timing and power.” “Looking back at the past IPL season, he and Travis Head were at the top of the order for SunRisers (Hyderabad), and he’s certainly carried that to India. As I already stated, he played a magnificent innings, and sometimes you want to give credit to the opponent. Like Gambhir, England’s captain was taken aback. When Abhishek fell at 135, practically all of England’s players rushed to congratulate him on an innings that put the opposition and the stadium fans in a trance.
Six-hitting habit since childhood
Abhishek Sharma has had the ability to strike the ball far and wide since he was a toddler. The officials, coaches, and players at Gandhi Stadium in Amritsar frequently complained about the disappearance of brand-new Kookaburra, SG, and Duke balls, which were quite expensive. In desperation, they would beg Raj Kumar Sharma, Abhishek’s father and a well-known coach, to ask his son to tone down his aggression and play with control.
The father would just dismiss such pleas. “Never mind,” he’d tell them. “We would get more new balls from Chandigarh.” He never tried to discourage Abhishek’s natural aggressive style of batting. “Hitting big shots has been his style since he was 14 or 15. “He carried that into the age group competitions,” Sharma Sr said of his son’s spectacular knock at the Wankhede on Sunday night.
There were over a dozen rip-snorting sixes in 54-ball 135, all of which were cleared with simple ease. Abhishek lost track of how many sixes were struck so quickly, consistently, and repeatedly. He couldn’t remember which was the finest hit. “I can’t remember them,” he would say after the contest. There were exactly 13 of them, crushed all over the ground, each better than the other. There were seven limits, all of which were good.
Made rapid strides through IPL
Abhishek has made significant improvements with his typical aggressive batting, scoring 426, 226, and 484 runs in the last three IPL seasons. Just as he was having a spectacular season last year, his mentor, Yuvraj Singh, told Cricbuzz that the youthful prodigy was not yet ready for the Indian squad. Fast forward 10 months, and Abhishek has already played 16 international matches, with Yuvraj acknowledging that the child has matured sufficiently. Yuvraj promised Abhishek, “You will win games for India,” and the words were enough to motivate the youngster.
“He was the one who believed in me, and when someone like Yuvraj Singh tells you that you’re going to play for the country and win games, you try to think things like, ‘Okay, I’m going to play for India and do my best.'” I believe they (those inspiring comments) had a significant impact on my cricketing career and will continue to do so in the future. It’s all due of how he treated me in the past. “He’s always there for me,” Abhishek Sharma said of Yuvraj, a white ball legend, who encouraged him.
Yuvraj and Abhishek have been working together for almost four years, and the former India all-rounder would put him through the paces during the off-seasons. “He would call him, and they would practice pura din,” Sharma Sr adds, recognizing Yuvraj’s role in developing his son’s profession. “They would practise on several pitches across the country, including Chandigarh, Mohali, Gurgaon, New Delhi, and even Mumbai. Yuvi would phone him, and he would go there.
When he wasn’t playing matches, Abhishek would get up at 4 a.m. and isolate himself in a room to meditate. After that, he’d go cycling, keeping his face hidden to prevent being identified. As the day progressed, he would spend approximately four hours in the nets, followed by a swim. “In between, he’d also do yoga,” adds his father, disclosing his daily regimen and adding that what was seen at the Wankhede on Sunday was the consequence of numerous hours of hard effort and advice from coach Yuvraj.
And that hard work has borne fruit as Abhishek now leaves Gambhir and Co. awestruck.
