Team India claimed their one-way battle against England in Mumbai on Sunday. The men in blue secured a 150-run win in the fifth and final T20I match, sweeping the series 4-1. The victory was an easy breeze from the start for the team, thanks to the 24-year-old left-handed opener, Abhishek Sharma. With 135 runs in 54 balls, Sharma, following the footsteps of his mentor Yuvraj Singh, left the crowd in awe with multiple records.
After losing the toss, team India had to bat first. Opener Sanju Samson created the buzz early with two sixes in the opening over against Jofra Archer. Following Samson’s wicket after 16 runs, Abhisek Sharma and 22-year-old Tilak Varma secured multiple boundaries, blurring every other match detail into insignificance.
Abhishek Sharma’s 135 runs off 54 balls before being dismissed made him the highest individual scorer for Team India in T20 Internationals. Here’s the full breakdown of the 24-year-old’s historic performance:
With 58 runs in 21 deliveries, Sharma helped the team to claim 95/1 runs in the powerplay. Following which the men in blue smashed the previous 82/2 record and registered their new highest score inside a power play.
Yuvraj Singh’s influence on Sharma was witnessed throughout his historic outing. In 2007, Yuvraj’s six sixes off six balls performance made him the fastest Indian to reach the fifty-run mark in 12 balls, and now, interestingly, his mentee has clinched the second spot. Sharma became the second fastest Indian to complete the half-century with only 17 deliveries. And with 37 balls rolling, the 24-year-old claimed his century as well, recording the second-fastest century in the format by an Indian. Sharma was only two balls short of captain Rohit Sharma’s historic century record in 35 balls against Sri Lanka in 2017.
Lastly, with 13 sixes (the most sixes by an Indian batter in T20I innings), Sharma completed the 135 knock, taking over Shubham Gill’s highest individual score by an Indian batter in T20I with an unbeaten 126 runs off 63 balls against New Zealand in 2023. The opener’s inning came to an end with Adil Rashid’s delivery caught by Jofra Archer.
After his dismissal from the ground, wickets kept falling, but yet India managed to put up their highest score of 247/9 against England in T20 format. Sharma’s performance and Mohammed Shami’s staunch 3/25 comeback left England’s victory odds at a minimum. Succumbing to the pressure, the team was bowled out in the 11th over with a 150-run victory for India.
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