Abhishek Sharma scripts records with his 4th T20I hundred: Stats
What's the story
Abhishek Sharma, one of the most explosive T20 openers in the game today, has raced to his fourth hundred in T20I cricket. He achieved this feat during India's third T20I match against New Zealand in Wellington on Tuesday. The left-handed batsman attacked from the outset in India's chase of 199 runs. During the course, he also became the third Indian to complete 150 T20I sixes.
Knock
A stunning hand from the southpaw
Abhishek's innings made India's chase of 199 runs a mere cakewalk.
He and his opening partner Vaibhav Sooryavanshi (45) wreaked havoc on the Kiwis during the powerplay, scoring a whopping 118 runs in the first six overs.
The former went on to hammer a 35-ball hundred. By the time he was dismissed, India had already raced to 178 runs in just 10 overs.
Though New Zealand picked up a couple of wickets later on, India (199/4) prevailed in 13.2 overs.
Milestone
Abhishek joins Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav
Abhishek made his T20I debut in 2024 and took just 70 matches (69 innings) to complete the milestone of 150 sixes (now 158).
He is now only the third Indian, after Rohit Sharma (205) and Suryakumar Yadav (179), to achieve this feat.
Overall, he is the eighth batter from a Full Member team to reach this landmark.
Performance
Over 2,200 runs in T20Is
Earlier this month, Abhishek became the sixth Indian to score 2,000 runs in T20I cricket.
The batter has now raced to 2,240 runs at an average of 33.43. He now has four tons and 14 half-centuries.
Abhishek's strike rate of 196.83 is currently the highest for any batter with at least 1,000 runs in the format.
403 of his runs have come across nine games against NZ at 50.37. This includes three fifties, one ton, and a stunning strike rate of 244.24.
Centuries
Most T20 hundreds for an Indian
Abhishek's tally of 11 tons is now the most for any Indian in T20s. He broke the tie with Virat Kohli (10).
Only West Indies's Chris Gayle (22) and Pakistan's Babar Azam (13) have registered more centuries in all T20 cricket.
Abhishek now also owns the joint-second-most T20I tons (4).
The youngster is only behind Rohit and Glenn Maxwell, who have five such scores each.
Feat
6,500 runs in T20s
With his seventh run, Abhishek also crossed the 6,500-run mark in the T20 format.
Abhishek, who made his professional debut in 2017, took 220 T20s (2167 innings) to complete 6,500 runs (now 6,606).
While the southpaw averages around 33, his staggering strike rate of 178-plus is the best for any batter with at least 2,000 runs.
Besides 11 tons, Abhishek also has 40 half-centuries besides 429 sixes.