Abhishek Sharma has become the talk of the town after a blistering century in the fifth T20I against England. The left-handed batter displayed one of the best clean-hitting displays with his 135-run knock at Wankhede Stadium. The opening batter registered his name in several record books with his ferocious knock as he scored the second fastest T20I century by an Indian - 37 balls and also posted the highest individual score by an Indian in the shortest format in international cricket.
Former England skipper Kevin Pietersen was astonished by Abhishek's knock and rated it as the best T20I innings he has seen. He also witnessed the shades of legendary Yuvraj Singh in the 24-year-old batter.
"Abishek is amazing. He had the shades (of Yuvraj).... Obviously, Yuvraj is rubbing off now on Abishek. His batting was fantastic. It was the best T20 international innings, I've ever seen and I said that to him afterwards,” Pietersen said on Star Sports.
The 24-year-old has also often credited the 2007 T20 World Cup and 2011 World Cup-winning star Yuvraj for his support throughout the journey. The legendary all-rounder also posted praise for Abhishek on social media whenever he performs well for India.
Abhishek smashed a record 13 sixes — most by any Indian batter in a T20I knock — and seven fours during his forceful innings as India completed a 4-1 hammering of the tourists.
‘It was just perfection’: Pietersen on Abhishek's knock
{{/usCountry}}Abhishek smashed a record 13 sixes — most by any Indian batter in a T20I knock — and seven fours during his forceful innings as India completed a 4-1 hammering of the tourists.
‘It was just perfection’: Pietersen on Abhishek's knock
{{/usCountry}}Pietersen was highly impressed with Abhishek's strokeplay as he played some proper cricketing shots with minimum risk to play a record-breaking knock.
"It was effortless. The stroke play was great, there was no funky shots, no ramping, no sweeping, reverse sweeping. It was just perfection," the former England captain wouldn't stop gushing about the Punjab southpaw's hitting ability.
Abhishek has been given regular chances since making his debut last year on the Zimbabwe tour. With India entering transition phase after T20 World Cup-win last year, Abhishek is chosen as one of openers to set the tone for their fearless batting approach in the format. He was elevated into the Indian team after his exploits in IPL 2024 where he scored 484 runs at an astonishing strike rate of 204.22.