Abhishek Sharma decimates England with all-round show at Wankhede

In a royal battle between two sides who have been staunch protagonists of ultra-aggressive styles of play lately, it was India that prevailed over England by a massive margin of 150 runs at the iconic Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai in the fifth and final T20I match. The tone for the impressive win by Abhishek Sharma’s 54-ball 135. 

Batting upfront the 24- year old opener not only shattered many records but also brought about smiles on the faces of tens of thousands of spectators including former England Prime Minister Rishi Sunak (2022-24), who were at the venue, despite the host having taken a 3-1 unassailable lead after a narrow 15 runs win at Pune last week.

The Punjab based southpaw smashed seven fours and 13 sixes in front of the wicket for his second T20I century and sixth overall including that at the domestic level to help India post a massive 247 for 9 and followed it up with a double wicket over as a part timer. The same came after him having taken a crucial catch of England opener Ben Duckett for a golden duck, off Mohammed Shami (3/25) in the third over of the innings. His efforts provided the host its first break after fellow opener Philip Salt (55) had smashed 17 runs (two fours and a six of the first three deliveries) in the first over off during the run chase off veteran pacer Shami who was playing his first international match across all formats of the games for India, since ICC ODI World Cup 2023, after suffering an ankle injury. Wickets continued to tumble thereafter with the exception of Salt none of the England batters showed an intent to play themselves in and that was reflected in the score sheet where eight of them were dismissed in single figures as the visitors could manage 97 in 10.3 overs in the end.

Abhishek with his clean hitting against a quality England attack which boasted tearaway pacers of the likes of Jofra Archer, Mark Wood and Jamie Overton, in the process registered the highest individual score for India in Men's T20Is, after having overtaken Shubman Gill unbeaten 126 against New Zealand in 2024 and the second-highest score by any batter against England, behind Australia’s Aaron Finch (156) in 2013.

Abhishek who was part of the Indian U-19 World Cup team that won in New Zealand way back in 2018 in fact had subdued start to his innings scoring five of five balls with no boundaries. Changing gears soon after he launched in to experienced Archer with a boundary through covers and followed it up with two consecutive sixes between deep point and extra cover of short balls off the same bowler, who early had dislocated the finger of his wicket keeper batter Sanju Samson with a short one. India had already raced to 39 for 1 with the loss of Samson (16) wicket to Wood and Archer conceded 32 of those in two overs.  

He took on Wood and Overton next and soon completed his fifty in 17 balls, the second quickest for India in the format behind Yuvraj Singh's 12-ball effort against England in Durban in 2007. In the company of Tilak Varma to ensure India score 95 for 1 at the end of Powerplay which was their highest at this stage for India and England, going past 82 for 2 against Scotland and 88 for 2 scored by South Africa against the former T20 World Champions latter in Dubai in T20 World Cup 2021. Abhishek who was unbeaten at 58 at this stage also suppressed Yashasvi Jaiswal's 53 against Australia in Trivandrum in 2023 in terms of runs by an Indian batter in T20I powerplay.

Showing scant respect for the opposition bowlers he continued to plunder runs and reached 86 off 29, but slowed down following the dismissal of Varma (25) following their 115-run stand for the second wicket which came at a stupendous run-rate of 16.04, in the ninth over bowled by medium pacer Brydon Carse. His journey towards the landmark three figure mark was comparatively docile and achieved with a single of the 37-ball he faced off Carse in the company of his skipper Suryakumar Yadav, narrowly missing out of the 35-ball efforts by Rohit Sharma and David Miller to become the fastest century scorer. With wickets falling regularly at the other end, he held on before being dismissed by leg spinner Adil Rashid not after having smacked two sixes earlier in the 18th over of the same bowler. During his 135 run carnage Abhishek smashed 13 sixes, the most by an Indian batter in a T20I innings surpassed the previous highest of ten each by Rohit Sharma against Sri Lanka in Indore in 2017, Sanju Samson against South Africa in Durban in 2024 and Tilak Varma against South Africa in Johannesburg in 2024.

Post the match Indian coach Gautam Gambhir who was awestruck by the breath taking innings of Abhishek Sharma, which would be India's highest T20I individual score said, "I haven't seen a better T20 hundred against bowlers who are bowling at 140-150 kph consistently."

Rival skipper Jos Buttler added, "That's as clean a ball striking as I've seen and he (Abhishek ) played fantastically well. We always sit down and think what more could we have done or how we could have stopped him but some days I think you have to give a lot of credit to the opposition with him single handedly winning the game for them with his all-round efforts"

Brief Scores  (Fifth T20I): India 247/9 in 20 overs (Abhishek Sharma 135, Shivam Dube 30; Brydon Carse 3/38) beat England 97 all out in 10.3 overs (Phil Salt 55, Mohammed Shami 3/25, Abhishek Sharma 2/3, Varun Chakravarthy 2/25, Shivam Dube 2/11) by 150 runs and 9.3 overs to spare. Player of the Match: Abhishek Sharma (India); Player of the Series: Varun Chakravarthy (India)

Photo Cover: Player of the Match Abhishek Sharma regaled the large gathering with his all round show

Photo Above: Team India led by Suryakumar Yadav savour their success after winning the five match T20I Series 4-1 at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai (Photos by Ashok Dhamija)