Opener Abhishek Sharma needed only 14 deliveries in Guwahati on Sunday evening to reach a half-century, the quickest by an Indian since Yuvraj Singh’s still-astonishing 12-ball effort back in 2007. The left-hander’s burst pushed past Hardik Pandya’s 16-ball mark from last month and provided the early jolt that carried India to an eight-wicket win over New Zealand in the third T20I.
India were chasing 154, a target that looked modest but still required tidy handling on a two-paced surface. Sharma more or less ignored the surface. Second over, first ball, he skipped down the pitch and deposited Jacob Duffy 88 metres over deep midwicket. The tone was set. By the end of the powerplay, India were 94 for 1 – their second-best six-over score in men’s T20Is – and the contest was as good as done.
Across his unbeaten 68 from 20 balls, Sharma struck seven fours and five sixes. The third of those sixes, a front-foot pull off Matt Henry, underlined the clarity of his intentions. His 14-ball fifty now sits behind only Yuvraj in India’s record books and, worldwide, it is still bettered by just a handful – Dipendra Singh Airee’s nine-ball special for Nepal at last year’s Asian Games remains top of the pile.
“I’ve said it before as well, that’s what my team wants from me, and I just want to execute all the time,” Sharma said afterwards. “But obviously it’s not easy to do it every time, but I think it’s all about mental as well and the atmosphere you get around your dressing room as well.”
A respectful nod to his mentor naturally followed. “I mean that’s more than impossible for anyone,” he admitted of Yuvraj’s 12-ball mark, “but still, you never know.”
Could he really plan such all-out aggression? His answer sounded instinctive, not scripted. “I wouldn’t say like it’s like I want to go from the first ball. It’s just the instinct I get in the wickets. I think about the bowler, if he wants to get me out on the first ball then what he would bowl to me and that’s always there in my mind and I just want to play on that ball.”
Coaches were pleased with the simplicity of that method. One member of the support staff, speaking quietly outside the home dressing-room, felt Sharma’s clarity is “exactly what we’ve been asking for – commit early, don’t second-guess.” It is also what keeps the top order flexible: with Sharma flying, India can afford to shuffle others around him.
New Zealand, meanwhile, were left to rue a total that never seemed enough. “We were probably 20 short,” batting coach Luke Ronchi admitted on television. “And once Abhishek got going it was tough to claw back.” The tourists now trail the series 2-1, needing something special in Ahmedabad to square things up.
Yuvraj’s record, though, still survives – for now.
