New Delhi: When Abhishek Sharma reached his hundred at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Thursday, he did not run, jump or shout. He took off his helmet, sat down cross-legged on the pitch and closed into a meditation pose.
The century had come in 30 balls, the fastest T20I hundred by an Indian and by any batter from a Full Member nation. He was out for 108 off 34 in the 10th over, caught by Rashid Khan, and India beat Afghanistan by 127 runs to finish a 3-0 sweep of the Friendship Cup.
It was an unusual way to mark a record. It made more sense once he explained it.
The night in Delhi
Abhishek hit nine fours and 11 sixes at a strike rate of 317.65. That is 102 of his 108 runs in boundaries. The first fifty took 16 balls and the next fifty took 14.
His powerplay alone was 76 off 22 balls, which is the highest individual score in a men’s T20I powerplay. The previous best was 74, made by Portugal’s Kuldeep Gholiya in 2023.
He went after Azmatullah Omarzai and Fazalhaq Farooqi early, then dominated the spinners, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan and Mujeeb Ur Rahman. Sanju Samson made 50 off 35 at the other end, and the pair added 100 in the powerplay, a team-best for India. Shreyas Iyer, the captain, chipped in with 29 off 20.
India were 164 for 2 after 13 overs but managed only 57 in the last seven, losing three batters to run-outs. They finished on 221 for 7. Afghanistan were bowled out for 94 in 14.1 overs. Nitish Kumar Reddy took three wickets in five balls in the 12th over and ended with 3 for 25, and Ravi Bishnoi took 3 for 26.
Why he sat down
After the match, Abhishek said the pose was not a one-off. He has been practising meditation and what he called manifestation for somewhere between six months and a year. A cricketer, he explained, plays all year and goes through plenty of ups and downs, and the question is how to keep the mind steady through them.
Meditation, he said, had helped him a great deal over the last six to eight months. He chose the celebration on purpose. If another cricketer saw it and thought about trying the same thing, that would be reason enough.
The reply to the critics
Seven months ago, at the T20 World Cup, Abhishek was out for three ducks in a row and made only 15 in India’s heavy defeat to South Africa. Mohammad Amir, the former Pakistan bowler, called him a slogger on a Pakistani TV show. Amir later said he was talking about technique as a bowler, and that good bowlers could exploit it. He also praised Abhishek’s fearlessness.
After the Afghanistan series, he put it in team terms. India’s batting group, he said, had been playing this way for two years, and “One or two bad series won’t define us as a batting department.” He added that batters go through ups and downs, and that the team has to stay together and back each other through them.
Yuvraj Singh, who worked with him during the Covid lockdown, posted his congratulations on social media. He wrote that he never doubted Abhishek would get this record one day, given his talent and hard work.
From Amritsar to the top of the rankings
Abhishek was born on September 4, 2000, in Amritsar and went to Delhi Public School in the city. Shubman Gill was a childhood friend. He scored a century in his first U-16 match and finished that Vijay Merchant Trophy season with 1,200 runs at 109.09. He was in the India squad that won the 2018 U-19 World Cup.
His first-class debut came in October 2017. In February 2021, playing for Punjab against Madhya Pradesh, he made a 42-ball hundred, the fastest by an Indian in List A cricket. Delhi Daredevils bought him for Rs 55 lakh in January 2018 and he made 46 off 19 on his IPL debut.
The big change came at Sunrisers Hyderabad. In IPL 2024 he scored 484 runs in 16 matches at a strike rate of 200 and hit 42 sixes, the most in the tournament. Punjab won the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy for the first time that season, with Abhishek making 485 runs in ten innings.
He made his T20I debut against Zimbabwe on July 6, 2024, and scored a hundred in his second match at Harare. On February 2, 2025, he made 135 off 54 against England in Mumbai, with 13 sixes and seven fours. That is still the highest T20I score by an Indian. The 108 against Afghanistan was his third T20I hundred.
In 2025 he became the youngest Indian to reach number one in the T20I batting rankings. He scored 314 runs at the Asia Cup and won Player of the Tournament. His rating of 931 points is the highest the format has seen.
How he bats
Abhishek is a left-handed opener who tries to hit sixes from the start. He also bowls occasional left-arm spin.
His own description is simple. He does not want to shut off any part of the ground. He watches the ball, plays what it deserves and wants to express himself. He said that has not changed since he started.
In three matches against Afghanistan he made 229 runs at an average of 76.33 and a strike rate of 269.41, with 22 sixes. In January against New Zealand he made 68 not out off 20 balls, including a 14-ball fifty, the second-fastest by an Indian.
The ‘L’ and the other celebrations
After fifties, Abhishek has made an ‘L’ with his hand. Asked about it during the Asia Cup in Dubai, after his 74 against Pakistan, he said it stands for love, meant for everyone supporting the Indian team. He added that India seem to win comfortably whenever his family are in the stands.
After his England hundred, he explained it again. He had celebrated fifties that way for a while and liked it. He also pointed out that he had never scored even 30 in an innings in India before that series, and that when the century arrived he felt blank, even though he had imagined the moment many times.
The meditation pose in Delhi was different. By his own account, it was aimed at other cricketers.
Series numbers
Abhishek made 82 off 32 in the first T20I on September 13 and 121 across the first two matches. The 108 in Delhi took him to 229. He was Player of the Match for the third game and Player of the Series.
Iyer described the innings after the match as flawless and pleasing to watch. Rohit Sharma’s 35-ball hundred against Sri Lanka in Indore in December 2017 had been the Indian record for almost nine years. Abhishek is 26.
