India batter Abhishek Sharma moved up a whopping 38 places to go second in the International Cricket Council (ICC) rankings for men’s T20I batters after his blazing knock of 135 from just 54 balls in the fifth T20I against England in Mumbai on Sunday.
The left-hander’s knock saw him get to 829 rating points, as he overtook his team-mate Tilak Varma to second place, reported ESPNcricinfo.
Abhishek had also started the series against England on a high, blasting 79 off only 34 balls to power India’s modest chase of 133 in Kolkata. Although the 24-year-old didn’t cross 29 in the next three innings, he lit up the stage in the fifth and final T20I. The young opener from Amritsar in Punjab smashed seven fours and 13 sixes during that record innings, thus setting the base for India’s 150-run victory.
Australia’s Travis Head leads the T20I batting charts, while England’s Phil Salt and India’s captain Suryakumar Yadav round off the top five batters in the rankings.
An aggressive batter just like his mentor Yuvraj Singh, Abhishek first raced to a 50 (after 17 balls) before reaching three figures in 37 balls, becoming the second-fastest Indian to a T20I hundred. Rohit Sharma had hit a 35-ball T20I century for India against Sri Lanka in 2017.
Abhishek’s 135 is the highest individual score by an Indian in a T20I, surpassing Shubman Gill’s 126 not out against New Zealand in 2023. The left-hander’s 13 sixes are the most by an Indian in a T20I, surpassing Rohit Sharma’s 10 against Sri Lanka in 2017.
Hitting against bowlers clocking 140kmh to 150kmh, requires a lot of courage and Abhishek was spot on with his shot selection on his day, reported The Hindustan Times.
England captain Jos Buttler lavished high praise on Abhishek after his spellbinding innings: “Yeah, we are obviously disappointed with the result, they (India) played a fantastic batting innings. I think credit to Abhishek Sharma, I thought that’s as clean a ball striking as I’ve seen, I thought he played fantastically well.”
India’s coach Gautam Gambhir was stunned by Abhishek’s hitting. “I haven’t seen a better T20 hundred against bowlers who are bowling at 140-150kmh consistently,” said Gambhir, a former left-handed India opener.
England coach Brendon McCullum doffed his hat to Abhishek and labelled his knock as one of the best he has seen in the format.
McCullum, considered a T20 legend himself, compared Abhishek to other legendary performers of the format for his brutal hitting display. “We’ve seen so many players over the years in this format that have been able to do it – Chris Gayle, Aaron Finch, AB de Villiers – and maybe Abishek Sharma is putting his hand up as one of those players,” said McCullum.
