Abhishek Sharma becomes 1st Indian with this T20I six-hitting record
What's the story
Abhishek Sharma entered record books by becoming the first Indian cricketer to hit a six on the first ball of an innings in a T20I match, not once but twice. The left-handed batter achieved this feat during India's Men's T20 Asia Cup 2025 Super 4 clash against Pakistan on September 21. He opened the innings for India and smashed Shaheen Afridi for a six on the very first ball he faced.
Record
First-ball sixes on two occasions in the Asia Cup
Prior to his six against Afridi, Abhishek had also hit a six on the first ball of India's innings in the Asia Cup Group A clash against UAE in Dubai on September 10. This means that both of his first-ball sixes have come during run chases. As per Cricbuzz, Abhishek is the only Indian batter to achieve this feat twice in T20Is.
Achievements
Other Indian batters with this record
Apart from Abhishek, three other Indian batters have hit a six on the first ball of a T20I match. Rohit Sharma was the first to do so against England's Adil Rashid at Ahmedabad's Narendra Modi Stadium in March 2021. Yashasvi Jaiswal followed suit during an India-Zimbabwe T20I match in Harare last year and Sanju Samson achieved this feat against England's Jofra Archer in Mumbai on February 2, 2025.
Record
Presenting the list in full
As mentioned, Abhishek is the first Indian batter to hit a six first ball of a T20I innings twice. Indian batters hitting first ball of a T20I innings for a six: Rohit Sharma off Adil Rashid Ahmedabad 2021 Yashasvi Jaiswal off Sikandar Raza Harare 2024 Sanju Samson off Jofra Archer Mumbai WS 2025 Abhishek Sharma off Haider Ali Dubai 2025 Abhishek Sharma off Shaheen Afridi Dubai 2025
Do you know?
Afridi clocks this unwanted record after Abhishek's 1st-ball six
As per Cricbuzz, Pakistan pacer Afridi has bowled the first over of a T20I 70 times, second most by a bowler from a Full Memebr team. Notably, Abhishek is the first to hit the pacer for a six off the first ball of his spell.