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Abhishek Sharma scored 135 runs from 54 balls for India in the fifth T20I against England, which was played at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Sunday.
Gautam Gambhir praises Abhishek Sharma. (Picture Credit: AP, Screengrab)
Indian men’s cricket team head coach Gautam Gambhir was full of praise for star Indian opener Abhishek Sharma on Sunday (February 2) after the 24-year-old left-handed batter from Amritsar scored 135 runs from just 54 balls in the fifth T20I against England. During his stay at the crease in the match played at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, Abhishek hammered seven fours and 13 sixes.
According to Gambhir, who took charge of Team India as head coach in July 2024, he has not seen a “better T20 hundred” than Abhishek’s 135 and said that the team will continue to play in a “fearless” manner going forward.
“We are going to do this going forward; got to play fearless cricket. We want to keep backing players like Abhishek Sharma. We have to be patient with these boys. Most of these boys believe in the ideology of playing fearless cricket,” Gambhir said on Star Sports after the match.
“I haven’t seen a better T20 hundred (Abhishek’s ton) against bowlers who are bowling at 140-150 kph consistently,” he added.
Abhishek opened the innings for India in the fifth T20I and crossed the 50-run mark on the 17th ball and the 100-run mark on the 37th ball. He became the sixth Indian batter to score multiple centuries in T20Is on Sunday and now also holds the record for hitting the most runs and sixes in a T20I match for Men in Blue.
Abhishek’s super show with the bat after India was invited to bat first by Jos Buttler helped the Suryakumar Yadav-led side secure a big win by 150 runs in Mumbai and take the series with a scoreline of 4-1.
Gambhir has hinted that India will adopt the aggressive approach in the three-match ODI series as well, which starts on February 6 in Nagpur.
“England is a very high-quality side. We don’t want to fear losing a game. We want to get to a total of 250-260, and at times we will get bowled out for 120, but we are on the right track (in T20Is).
“We want to play as aggressively as we can in the ODIs; we want to entertain the crowd.”
