Left-handed opener Abhishek Sharma once again in the first T20 against England

Left-handed opening batsman Abhishek Sharma once again stole the show with his stormy batting in the first T20 against England. Chasing the target of 133 runs, this 24 year old young player played a brilliant inning of 79 runs in 34 balls with the help of 5 fours and 8 skyscraper sixes, during which his strike rate was 232.35. Abhishek completed his half-century in just 20 balls, and with this he entered his mentor Yuvraj Singh’s club.

Abhishek Sharma has become the second Indian to score a fifty in the fewest balls in a T20I against England. At number one is his mentor Yuvraj Singh, who achieved this feat in 12 balls against England during the 2007 T20 World Cup. During that time, Yuvraj had also hit 6 consecutive sixes on 6 balls of Stuart Broad.

Abhishek Sharma has now also joined the list of top-10 batsmen who have scored the fastest half-century for India.

Fastest half century in T20I for India:

1. Yuvraj Singh – 12 balls (vs England)
2. KL Rahul – 18 balls (vs Scotland)
3. Suryakumar Yadav – 18 balls (vs South Africa)
4. Gautam Gambhir – 19 balls (vs Sri Lanka)
5. Rohit Sharma – 19 balls (vs Australia)
6. Yuvraj Singh – 20 balls (vs Australia)
7. Yuvraj Singh – 20 balls (vs Sri Lanka)
8. Axar Patel – 20 balls (vs Sri Lanka)
9. Abhishek Sharma – 20 balls (vs England)
10. Virat Kohli – 21 balls (vs West Indies)

Talking about this match played in Kolkata, Suryakumar Yadav won the toss and decided to bowl first. England had a poor start at Eden Gardens, where both openers Phil Salt and Ben Duckett returned to the pavilion within 3 overs.

Captain Jos Buttler, who came to bat at number-3, scored 68 runs in 44 balls with the help of 8 fours and 2 skyscraper sixes, but apart from him no English batsman could touch the 20-run mark. Varun Chakraborty, Arshdeep Singh, Hardik Pandya and Akshar Patel took 2 wickets each for India.

Sanju Samson (26) and Abhishek Sharma gave a great start to Team India while chasing this score. There was a partnership of 41 runs between the two for the first wicket in 4.2 overs. Captain Suryakumar Yadav, who came to bat at number 3, could not open his account. Tilak Verma came and supported Abhishek and this left-handed batsman led the team to victory in the blink of an eye.

Abhishek Sharma played a stormy inning of 79 runs in 34 balls with the help of 5 fours and 8 skyscraper sixes, and during this his strike rate was 232.35.