Nagpur: Indian star batter Abhishek Sharma produced a breathtaking display of power-hitting to script history during the first T20 International between India and New Zealand at the Vidarbha Cricket Association (VCA) Stadium on January 21. The left-hander’s explosive innings not only set the tone for the match but also etched his name into the global T20 record books.
Coming into the game needing 82 runs to complete 5,000 runs in T20 cricket, Abhishek reached the milestone in emphatic fashion, dismantling the New Zealand bowling attack with fearless strokeplay. In the process, he became the fastest player in men’s T20 cricket to reach 5,000 runs in terms of balls faced, achieving the feat in just 2,898 deliveries. He surpassed the previous record held by West Indies all-rounder Andre Russell, who had taken 2,942 balls.
Fastest to 5,000 T20 Runs (by balls faced):
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2,898 – Abhishek Sharma
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2,942 – Andre Russell
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3,127 – Tim David
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3,196 – Will Jacks
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3,239 – Glenn Maxwell
Abhishek was not done yet. During his dazzling knock, he also registered another world record by scoring the fastest T20I half-century by an Indian against New Zealand, reaching the landmark in just 22 balls. The previous best belonged jointly to KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma, both of whom had achieved the feat in 23 balls during India’s 2020 tour of New Zealand.
Remarkably, this was the eighth time Abhishek has brought up a T20 half-century in 25 balls or fewer, a tally that now places him ahead of renowned power-hitters Phil Salt, Suryakumar Yadav and Evin Lewis, who had managed the feat seven times each.
With his ‘Maha-Tandav’ in Nagpur, Abhishek Sharma once again underlined his status as one of the most destructive batters in world T20 cricket, giving Indian fans yet another glimpse of a star operating at the peak of his powers.
