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]Abhishek Sharma hits a 32-ball 100 against Shami’s Bengal, joins Yuvraj Singh on the elite list
by K D Mishra
Abhishek Sharma seems to be able to do everything in T20 cricket. After a few low scores, he came back in style with an amazing knock, hitting a century in just 32 balls. Leading Punjab in their Round 3 match against Bengal, the SRH opener smashed the bowlers all around the ground in Hyderabad.
He reached his fifty in only 12 balls, matching Yuvraj Singh’s famous 12-ball fifty when he hit 6 sixes in an over against England. Abhishek finished his innings on 148 runs from 52 balls, a truly incredible performance.
Abhishek showed again that he is one of the best and most dangerous T20 players in India. In a big match between Punjab and Bengal, he played an exciting innings. Opening with Prabhsimran Singh (who scored 70 from 35 balls), Abhishek helped build a huge partnership of 205 runs. They did this in only 75 balls, scoring more than 16 runs per over.
Abhishek hit 11 sixes in just 32 balls and reached his 8th T20 century. Only Virat Kohli has more T20 hundreds (9). But Kohli has played 240 more innings than Abhishek. This was also the third-fastest T20 hundred by an Indian, after Gujarat’s Urvil Patel scored a 31-ball century a few days ago.
The last few days have been great for India’s T20 players. Vaibhav Suryavanshi also hit a 32-ball century in the Asia Cup Rising Stars. Abhishek and Urvil already share the record for the fastest T20 century by an Indian both scored a 28-ball hundred last year in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. Now they have done something close to it again, taking just a few more balls this time.
On a foggy Sunday morning, Abhishek smashed Bengal’s bowling attack, even though they had strong bowlers like Mohammed Shami, Akash Deep and Shahbaz Ahmed. Shami, who has been in good form, could not stop him. Abhishek scored 27 runs off the six balls he faced from Shami (2 sixes and 3 fours). He hit Akash Deep for 15 runs in 6 balls before getting out to him.
The bowler who suffered the most was Writtick Chatterjee. Abhishek scored 64 runs off his 18 balls. That means Abhishek scored at a rate of more than 350 against him.
Highest Individual T20 Scores by Indians:
| Rank | Player | Score | Opposition |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tilak Varma | 151 | Meghalaya |
| 2 | Abhishek Sharma | 148 | Bengal |
| 3 | Shreyas Iyer | 147 | Sikkim |
| 4 | Punit Bisht | 146* | Mizoram |
| 5 | Vaibhav Suryavanshi | 144 | UAE |
Fastest T20 Centuries by Indian Players
| S. No. | Player | Balls Taken | Match |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Abhishek Sharma | 28 | Punjab vs Meghalaya, 2024 |
| 2 | Urvil Patel | 28 | Gujarat vs Tripura, 2024 |
| 3 | Urvil Patel | 31 | Gujarat vs Services, 2025 |
| 4 | Abhishek Sharma* | 32 | Punjab vs Bengal, 2025 |
| 5 | Rishabh Pant | 32 | Delhi vs HP, 2018 |
| 6 | Vaibhav Suryavanshi | 32 | India A vs UAE, 2025 |
