Abhishek Sharma (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images) After enduring a run of low scores on his return to the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy as Punjab captain, Abhishek Sharma produced a breathtaking counter-attack to smash a record century against a seasoned Bengal bowling attack at the Gymkhana Ground in Hyderabad on Sunday morning.A 12-ball fifty with 50 runs in the boundary After Punjab chose to bat first, Abhishek found the rhythm immediately. He smashed his way to a half-century in just 12 deliveries as he and his former SunRisers Hyderabad teammate Mohammed Shami shared 23 runs in a single over.
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The scale of the attack was staggering. Before reaching his fifty, the left-hander scored 50 of his first 51 runs in boundaries, smashing five sixes and five fours, leaving Bengal stunned. Alongside him, Prabhsimran Singh also fired early to help Punjab cross 120 in eight overs. Abhishek continued to power sixes straight down the ground, repeatedly targeting the V region with brutal accuracy.Equal to Rohit Sharma; only Virat Kohli ahead of him The carnage did not stop. Abhishek struck a century in 32 balls, finishing with 11 sixes and seven fours before reaching triple figures. The knock marked his eighth T20 hundred in 157 innings, bringing him level with Rohit Sharma. Among Indian batters, only Virat Kohli (nine) has more T20 centuries. Just last season, Abhishek smashed a 28-ball hundred against Meghalaya, the fastest by any Indian in T20 cricket. He also hit 87 sixes in T20s in 2024, the most by an Indian in a single year.He breaks his own six-stroke record With 16 sixes in this innings alone, Abhishek surpassed his tally of 2024 to become the first Indian to hit 90 T20 sixes in a calendar year.Most T20 sixes by an Indian in a calendar year
- 91* (33 innings) – Abhishek Sharma (2025)
- 87 (38 innings) – Abhishek Sharma (2024)
- 85 (41 innings) – Suryakumar Yadav (2022)
- 71 (33 innings) – Suryakumar Yadav (2023)
- 66 (31 innings) – Rishabh Pant (2018)
- 63 (42 innings) – Shreyas Iyer (2019)
- 60 (32 innings) – Sanju Samson (2024)
Punjab crossed the 300-run mark Abhishek eventually departed for a magnificent 148 off 52 balls, with 16 sixes and eight fours, but not before powering Punjab’s score past 300. They have now become only the second Indian T20 team, after Baroda v Sikkim in 2024, to cross the 300-run mark.
