Left-handed opener Abhishek Sharma starred with the bat in India’s resounding seven-wicket victory over Afghanistan in the first T20I of the three-match series at Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi on Sunday (September 13).
Opting to field first after winning the toss, the reigning T20 world champions put on a superb bowling display to restrict Afghanistan to 156/8 in their 20 overs. Left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh was the stand-out bowler, returning with the excellent figures of 3/19. Jasprit Bumrah, Axar Patel, and Varun Chakaravarthy picked up a wicket each.
In response, India blew away the target in just 13.4 overs, ending at 157/3. Abhishek went on an absolute rampage, smashing a spectacular 82 runs from just 32 balls, featuring seven boundaries and seven towering sixes. He shared a destructive 121-run second-wicket partnership off 53 balls with Ishan Kishan, who contributed 42 off 33 balls.
Before stealing show with the bat, Abhishek set the tone in the field by taking a sharp catch in the slips off the bowling of a returning Jasprit Bumrah in the very first over to dismiss Rahmanullah Gurbaz for a duck.
Speaking during the post-match presentation, Abhishek Sharma highlighed the immense challenge of facing or fielding for Bumrah, noting that even in T20 practice nets, batting against the ace pacer feels as intense and demanding as the opening overs of a Test match.
“I mean, getting a catch in the first over, that also in the slips, makes you a bit more confident. So that’s how we started the innings today. So I’m very happy with that,” Sharma said after receiving the Player-of-the-Match award.
“When we face him (Bumrah) in the nets as well, it feels like we are playing first few overs Test cricket to him. So it’s always very, we’re always on our toes for him in the slips as well,” he added.
The southpaw reiterated India's long-term commitment to a highly aggressive, dominant style of batting. He firmly dismissed the idea that a brief lean patch or a couple of bad series will change their proactive identity as a collective unit.
“I mean, of course, once you have decided, because I still remember two years back we decided we want to play in a certain way. We wanted to dominate all the teams throughout the whole year before the World Cup and things went pretty well for all the team, and especially for the batsmen as well. But I think one or two series won’t define our team as a batting unit, because the way we all think as a batting unit, it always makes a team first,” he remarked.
For targets in the 150–160 run range, Abhishek believes the primary role of the opening batters is to provide an aggressive, early start to firmly put the team on the winning side.
“We always wanted to give that start as openers, especially wickets like this, if you’re chasing 150, 160, and you give an early start as openers, it always makes you on the winning side,” he concluded.
