It’s not a Haaland copy: Abhishek Sharma reveals the real meaning of the new celebration

Abhishek Sharma revealed that his celebration after scoring his record hundred against Afghanistan was not a copy of Erling Haaland’s famous one. The Indian opener revealed that it was actually him who tried to create awareness about meditation and how it helped him.

Abhishek performed a stunning record knock in the third T20I against Afghanistan, where he smashed a century off just 30 balls at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Thursday. In a blistering innings, he overtook Rohit Sharma as the fastest Indian to a T20I hundred. Rohit previously held the record after reaching three figures in 35 balls against Sri Lanka in 2017. It was also the fastest T20I hundred by a batsman from a full member nation.

IND vs AFG, 3rd T20I: MAIN | SCORECARD

Abhishek reached his hundred with 10 sixes and nine fours to guide India to 132 for no loss in just 8.3 overs. It was his third T20I century and another statement in the series.

Upon completion of the milestone, Abhishek sank to the ground and went into a meditative position. It resembled Manchester City star Haaland’s traditional meditation celebration.

Talking to broadcasters after the match, Abhishek revealed that he has been using meditation as a part of his life for the past year to cope with the pressure of playing cricket.

The Indian opener said that meditation has helped him a lot and wanted to show its benefits through celebrations.

“This is something I’ve been doing for a while now, six months to a year. I’ve been focusing a lot on meditation and manifestation because when you play cricket throughout the year, you have a lot of ups and downs as a cricketer.”

“So how do you keep your mind steady with that? I think meditation has really helped me a lot and I just wanted if anyone saw it, if any cricketer would feel that it’s really helped me over the last six to eight months.”

“So it was a specific celebration that this is something that keeps me stable,” Abhishek said.

The Indian opener’s heroics with the bat helped India win the 3rd T20I by 127 runs to complete the lime 3-0.

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Published on:

18 Sep 2026 03:00 IST