Abhishek Sharma on Wednesday continued from where he left off in 2025. The left-handed batter from Punjab was at his brutal best against New Zealand in the first T20I of the five-match series at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in Nagpur. The No. 1-ranked batter in the shortest format scored 84 runs off just 35 balls with the help of eight sixes and five fours. He was looking destined to score his second T20I century, but he was stopped in his tracks by Ish Sodhi as the 25-year-old lost his wicket in trying to go for another six.
Abhishek took just 22 balls to surpass the 50-run mark, registering the fastest T20I half-century by an Indian against New Zealand. The previous fastest was by KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma (2020). The duo had taken 23 balls each.
As usual, Abhishek was quick off the blocks, and he started hammering bowlers from the beginning and spared no one as Jacob Duffy, Kyle Jamieson, Kristian Clarke, Mitchell Santner and Ish Sodhi bore the brunt of his attack.
Midway through this knock, he also surpassed the 5000 run mark in T20Is. The eight sixes by Abhishek are the third most hit by any player in a T20I against the BlackCaps, only behind South Africa’s Richard Levi (13) and West Indies’ Kieron Pollard (8).
The batter finally lost his wicket on the final ball of the 12th over. Sodhi bowled a slot delivery but Abhishek’s bat turned in his hands and he ended up mistiming the ball to long-on. Jamieson did not have any trouble in completing the simple catch and sending the India opener back to the hut.
Abhishek also became the batter to have the most number of fifty-plus scores in balls less than 25. He has achieved this milestone eight times, surpassing Phil Salt, Suryakumar Yadav and Evin Lewis, who have each done so seven times.
New Zealand wins toss
Earlier, New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner won the toss and opted to bowl first. Sanju Samson and Ishan Kishan failed to get going as the duo managed 10 and 8, respectively.
Abhishek then found support in skipper Suryakumar as the duo put on 99 runs for the third wicket, with the latter contributing 32 runs.
The matches between India and New Zealand are giving both teams an opportunity to fine-tune their skills and get much-needed preparation time ahead of the Men’s T20 World Cup set to be played in India and Sri Lanka from February 7 to March 8.
