“I have never seen a greater hundred in T20 cricket when the bowlers are consistently clocking speeds of 140 to 150 kph,”said Gautam Gambhir. He was struck with the magnitude, power and speed of the stunning innings that would account for an Indian at the highest T20I individual score. Abhishek Sharma was on a carnage scoring at an unprecedented strike rate of 250. Jofra Archer, Mark Wood Brydon Carse and Jamie Overton who all boast of speeds above 145k mph were seeking refuge at the Wankhede on Sunday night.
- Pakistan recall Fakhar Zaman for Champion Trophy
- India and England battle of contrasts reaches Pune
- Hardik Pandya OUT,3 Players IN: India Likely XI For 4th T20I Vs England
- Bumrah was named the ICC Men’s Test Cricketer of the Year following an incredible year
- Australia uses a variable batting order to experiment with the concept of “Total Cricket”
- Rishabh Pant Will be X-factor for India in CT: Zaheer Khan
- Ranji Trophy Live Score: Following a 50-run partnership, Rohit and Jaiswal dismiss wickets
- India’s CT Jersey to Feature ICC- Approved Tournament Logo
- Hardik is Also Part of the Leadership Group – Suryakumar
- LSG will be Centred Around a Never-say-die Attitude: Pant
Tilak Varma had already smashed jofra archer over cover a few nights ago and now at the Wankhede Abhishek has already taken it a notch higher by making a mockery of him, in the span of the third over, first of the pacer, he smashed him first over cover and then extra cover. A few deliveries earlier he smashed for a boundary and already had one, he was setting the track for a night where he will undoubtedly be the man of the match and I mean the true unstoppable man of the match. Archer came to India with the reputation of being a terrifying pace bowler, he will depart the country with that status tattered after the destruction primary by Abhishek was able to bring out.
The strike on the ball is as clean as I have seen. I thought he played extremely well. Whenever we sit down, we ask ourselves what more could we have attempted or how we could have stopped him, but sometimes I think you need to really give a lot of credit to the other team.
“Abhishek Sharma is supremely gifted; his timing and power is incredible,” Buttler would go on. Abhishek’s performance alongside Travis Head from the past IPL where both played for SunRisers was noteworthy. He has certainly brought that form with him to India, as I said, he played exceptionally well and sometimes you have to hand it to the other side,” “Like Gambhir, he was also speaking in awed tone and so is the England captain. At least, when Abhishek got out at 135, there was no shortage of congratulations and claps from all England players for the innings that completely mesmerized the opposing side along with the audience sitting in the stadium. Now they will remember this forever,” said Gursharan Singh.
Habit of clearing the boundary from the young age
Clearing the boundary even when he was still kid seemed effortless to him. From AJK College, construction workers and staff, and even the coaches and players at Gandhi Stadium could often be heard complaining about the strange phenomenon where all the new expensive Kookaburra, SG, and Duke balls seemed to just vanish. In desperation, they often turned to Raj Kumar Sharma, Abhishek’s well-known father and equally well-known coach, who would always plead with him to stop being so aggressive, putting myself in greater control of the situation. For more Cricket update click here
The father would dismiss those requests and say, “Never mind, we’ll receive more new balls from Chandigarh.” He did not encourage Abhishek’s naturally aggressive batting style. “He has been hitting big shots from the age of 14 or 15. He took that to the age group competitions,” as Sharma Sr would put it regarding his son’s flamboyant knock at Wankhede on Sunday night.
There were more than a dozen rip snorting sixes in 54 balls 135 and all of them cleared their target with effortless ease. Their speed and frequency made it unlike that Abhishek would have kept count. Nor could he remember his best hit. “I can’t remember them” is how he would say after the game. It was more like there were, precisely 13 of them hit all over the grounds where each was better than the last. And there were seven boundaries which were all equally good.