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Kevin Pietersen has lavished huge praise on Abhishek Sharma, saying his 135 against England in the fifth T20I at Wankhede was ‘the best T20I innings he has seen.’
Abhishek Sharma scored 135 runs from 54 balls for India in the 5th T20I against England. (Picture Credit: X/@BCCI)
Kevin Pietersen said Abhishek Sharma’s 135 against England in the fifth T20I at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai was ‘the best T20I innings’ he has ever seen and that he took time to tell the Indian opener that after the match. The former English captain described the innings as ‘perfection’ because it had ‘no funky shots’.
The 135 (54) was the highest T20I score for India and involved a record-breaking 13 sixes. He reached his century off just 37 balls, making him the second fastest to the milestone in a match between two full-member ICC nations after Rohit Sharma and David Miller (35 balls each). He took just 17 balls to reach his half-century, the second-fastest for India after his mentor Yuvraj Singh’s 12-ball effort against the same opponent in 2007.
“Abhishek is amazing. He had the shades (of Yuvraj)… Obviously, Yuvraj is rubbing off now on Abhishek. 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 Tuesday, as quoted by PTI. “It was effortless. The stroke play was great, there was no funky shots, no ramping, no sweeping, reverse sweeping. It was just perfection,” he added.
Yuvraj has mentored Abhishek in the last five years, working on his fitness and mentality during the Covid-19 pandemic, and then helping him with technical nuances and game-intelligence-related things through discussions on the phone and meetings.
I had the belief I’ll play an innings like this: Abhishek Sharma
After his brilliant knock, Abhishek said that he knew he’d play a knock like this even during his lull phase, thanks to the belief instilled in him through his team’s backing.
“You can ask any player; such matches are very few (and far between). I would say it was all possible because of the efforts I put in the practice, the backing I got from the coaches and the captain when I was not getting the runs or not bowling well,” Abhishek said in the post-match press conference. “All these things calculate (work out well) at the end, and I had the belief that on my day, I will play an innings like this,” he added.
