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Abhishek Sharma played a blistering knock in the third T20I match of the ongoing 5-match series against West Indies. With a match-defining 69 runs off 30 balls, the opener surpassed the former India captain Suryakumar Yadav's record in the T20 Internationals.
It was another high-scoring match between these two teams. India won the match by 14 runs, scoring 223 runs in 20 overs. Sanju Samson, the other half of the opening pair, was dismissed for only 3 runs, but Sharma remained firm on the track to take the team to a solid total.
Abhishek Sharma breaks Suryakumar Yadav's record
On the way to crafting the 69-run knock, the southpaw broke several records in the shortest format of the game for the Indian cricket team. Breaking Suryakumar Yadav's record was no less than climbing a mountain. Before the India vs West Indies 3rd T20I, Yadav was the fastest to 2,000 T20I runs in terms of deliveries faced. He faced 1,164 deliveries to claim the landmark total, while Sharma claimed the same only by facing 1,024 balls.
Fastest to reach 2,000 T20I runs (Fewest balls faced)
Abhishek Sharma (India): 1,024 balls
Suryakumar Yadav (India): 1,164 balls
Aaron Finch (Australia): 1,283 balls
Glenn Maxwell (Australia): 1,304 balls
Hardik Pandya (India): 1,390 balls
A record-breaking partnership with Ishan Kishan
Sharma was dismissed for 69 off 30 balls, smashing six 4s and five 6s, with India on 124 and one delivery remaining in the 10th over. He stitched a crucial partnership with the No.3 batter Ishan Kishan to stabilize the team's innings. Sharma and Kishan secured a 108-run partnership in 6.4 overs. When Sanju Samson was dismissed, India was on 7 runs in 1.4 overs, and when Ishan Kishan was dismissed for an individual 37 off 18, India was on 115 runs on the scoreboard in 8.2 overs.
Highest run-rates for a century stand for India in T20Is
16.2 - 108 in 6.4 overs - Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan vs West Indies, Indore, 2026
16.04 - 115 in 7.1 overs - Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma vs England, Mumbai WS, 2025
15.45 - 103 in 6.4 overs - Hardik Pandya, Shubman Gill vs New Zealand, Ahmedabad, 2023
15.3 - 102 in 6.2 overs - Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav vs South Africa, Guwahati, 2022
15.3 - 102* in 6.2 overs - Abhishek Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav vs New Zealand, Guwahati, 2026
Abhishek Sharma takes on Roston Chase
Roston Chase was economical in the previous match, so the West Indies skipper, Shai Hope, introduced him early in the innings. Squeezing runs out of Roston Chase's 4-over quota was crucial for the Indian cricket team. Sharma had a plan to take on the spinner.
"I respected him in the first over, and I was waiting for the ball, and I was (having a feel for) the wicket at that time. And when I thought that I knew how it was coming... and obviously he's a class bowler, what I've seen in the last few matches. So I had to wait for my ball,l and just in the second over, I feel he gave me two balls when he was going for the wicket. So I had that opportunity to score some runs," Sharma explains how he neutralized Roston Chase.
