‘It was just me and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’: Abhishek Sharma after his record innings in India’s 3rd T20I win over New Zealand

Abhishek Sharma credited careful preparation and a clear game plan for his sensational century against New Zealand as he revealed he “showed” the innings before producing a breathtaking performance in the third T20I in Wellington on Tuesday.The left-arm opener smashed 113 off just 38 balls to help India chase down 199 in just 13.2 overs. The six-wicket win gave India an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five-match series.Abhishek and teenage opener Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, who scored 45 off 19 deliveries, combined for a record 118 not out in the powerplay, the highest total recorded in the first six overs of a men’s T20 international.After receiving the man of the match award, Abhishek explained how the opening pair approached the chase.“I think the key was quite simple. It was just me and Vaibhav there, we just enjoyed it there for a while, especially in the powerplay,” he told TV stations.The Indian opener said the duo assessed the pitch while bowling and identified opportunities to exploit Wellington’s short square boundaries and the pace of the New Zealand bowlers.“Especially when we fielded, we watched the pitch a little bit for that extra bounce. But I feel the size of the ground, we could use the power play and also their pace. So it was an easy plan,” he added.

Preparing for explosive innings

Abhishek stressed that such feats are rarely accidental, highlighting the work he does during training and the support he receives from the Indian coaches.“I feel like it’s not that, I wouldn’t say it’s that easy, but it’s just preparation behind the scenes. Special credit to our coaches for the handguns; we’ve played with them a lot,” he said.The batsman explained that understanding the conditions and adapting to the opposition’s bowling plans was central to his approach.“Preparation is really as important as batting. When you see the conditions and the dimensions, it’s always in your mind and then you have to keep the bowlers in mind and play the shots according to the bowlers,” Abhishek said.After revealing that India had enjoyed a productive training session the previous day, he described how the performance lived up to his expectations.“We had a good practice yesterday and I just wanted to take advantage of it and I did. And I feel like I pretty much showed that shift and it happened,” he added.Abhishek reached his half-century in just 15 balls before completing his hundred in 35 deliveries, making the innings one of the standout performances of his T20 career.

A playful challenge by Yuvraj Singh

The knock also prompted a cheeky message from Abhishek’s mentor, former India all-rounder Yuvraj Singh.Taking to social media platform X, Yuvraj challenged his protégé to break his record of fastest T20I half-century in India, which came off just 12 balls in the 2007 T20 World Cup against England.“Still can’t get 50 off 12 can you Abhishek Sharma! Looks like two left-handers batting in their backyard!” Yuvraj wrote.Responding to the challenge, Abhishek acknowledged the difficulty of achieving such a feat and praised his mentor’s remarkable ability to hit the ground running.“I don’t know what kind of cricket he was playing at that time, but it’s not easy at all,” he said, explaining that scoring 50 in 12 balls required exceptional circumstances.“It happens only once in a while. But obviously as a batsman we are not going for that milestone. We always want to win the match for the team, for me and mainly for Vaibhav. He is here. So that was the plan and that is what we want to take in the whole series as well and it went well,” he added.Yuvraj later took to social media to praise Abhishek’s remarkable scoring rate, Sooryavanshi’s contribution and India’s overall performance.“And I can’t make 100 off 30 or 34 balls. Well played sir Abhishek Sharma! Great innings aur apne single bhi le liye,” he wrote, congratulating the team on the series win.