Abhishek Sharma slams record century; Padikkal, Uthappa continue with their purple patch  

Abhishek Sharma scored a 42-ball century, the second fastest by an Indian in List-A cricket.

The ongoing Vijay Hazare Trophy 2021 has seen a lot of players showing great form with the bat and today, February 28, 2021, as well, three of the best batsmen showed how good they were for their respective teams.

First of all, Punjab’s 20-year-old Abhishek Sharma entered the record books as he slammed a brilliant 42-ball century against Madhya Pradesh at the Holkar Stadium in Indore. He hit 9 sixes and 8 fours in his innings of 104, which is also the second-fastest century by an Indian in List-A cricket.

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His effort fell short of Yusuf Pathan’s 40-ball ton which had come against Maharashtra in 2009-10 Vijay Hazare Trophy at Sardar Patel Stadium in Motera. He made 108* in 42 balls with 10 sixes and 8 fours to his name.

However, Abhishek Sharma’s century was not enough for Punjab as they failed to chase down Madhya Pradesh’s 402/3, which came thanks to 198 from Venkatesh Iyer and 88* from Aditya Srivastava. Punjab was bowled out for 297 and Madhya Pradesh won by 105 runs.

Next, Karnataka’s Devdutt Padikkal continued his purplest of patches as he helped his team beat Railways by 10 wickets. Railways made 284/9 with Pratham Singh making 129 runs. However, Karnataka made short work of the target, as captain R Samarth made 130* in 118 balls with 17 fours.

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But it was Devdutt Padikkal, who impressed the most with his third consecutive century in the ongoing tournament, making 145* in 125 balls with 9 fours and 9 sixes to his name as Karnataka reached the target in 40.3 overs. The 20-year-old left-handed opener has been in tremendous form scoring 97 v Bihar, 152 v Odisha, and 126* v Kerala in his previous two matches.

The third best performance of the day came from Kerala’s veteran opener Robin Uthappa, who slammed 87* in just 32 balls with 4 fours and 10 sixes, as his team chased down Bihar’s measly target of 149 runs in just 8.5 overs.

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Uthappa has also been in very good form scoring 107 v Odisha, 81 v Uttar Pradesh, and 100 vs Railways before this innings.