Abhishek Sharma on top in T20I history, 53 runs away from surpassing Suryakumar Yadav’s unique record

Abhishek Sharma (ANI Photo) Abhishek Sharma could turn Friday’s second T20I against the West Indies into another milestone in his fast-growing international career. The India opener needs just 53 runs to complete 2000 T20I runs, but the milestone itself is only half the story.If Abhishek gets there fast enough, he could take down the record currently held by none other than his former captain and one of the most explosive batsmen in T20 cricket, Suryakumar Yadav.

SKY record in the number of 1164 balls in sight

Suryakumar holds the world record for reaching 2000 T20I runs in the fewest number of balls. He reached the milestone in 1,164 deliveries, surpassing Australia’s Aaron Finch who took 1,283 balls.Abhishek currently has 1,947 runs from 997 balls. That means he has 167 balls as a theoretical maximum to score 53 runs to match SKY’s 1164 balls.But if he wants to break the record, he needs to get to 2,000 in 1,163 balls or less, which means he needs to score those 53 runs within his next 166 balls.

A record tailored to Abhishek’s approach

Abhishek has built a reputation around an attacking brand of T20 cricket. His current career T20I strike rate is a staggering 195.29, with 1,947 runs coming from just 997 deliveries. He has also already smashed 135 sixes and three centuries in the format.The lefty showed how quickly he can change a game. Earlier this year, he smashed a T20I century in just 30 balls against Afghanistan, the fastest century by an Indian in the format.So while 53 runs may sound like a modest target, the real question on Friday will be: how quickly can he get there?

West Indies stand in the way

Abhishek got off to a flying start in the series opener in Lucknow, scoring 21 off 10 balls before being dismissed by Roston Chase. India won by eight wickets with Shreyas Iyer smashing an unbeaten 102 off 43 balls to give the hosts a 1-0 lead.Now that Ranchi is hosting the second T20I, Abhishek has a chance to turn a personal milestone into a piece of T20I history.