Left-handed opener Abhishek Sharma starred with the bat as India crushed Afghanistan by 127 runs in the third and final T20I to complete a 3-0 series sweep in New Delhi on Thursday (September 17).

After putting on 221/7 on board, riding on Abhishek's 34-ball 108 and Sanju Samson's 50, India bundled Afghanistan out for a paltry 94 in 14.1 overs.

Sharma’s third century in T20Is - from only 30 balls - was not only the fastest ever for any Indian but also the quickest for any batter from Test-playing nations. It was also the third-fastest ton overall in T20Is.

Nitish Kumar Reddy (3/25) and Ravi Bishnoi (3/26) were the standout Indian bowlers, while Axar Patel also returned with a couple of scalps.

Following being named both Player of the Match and Player of the Series, Abhishek Sharma said one or two "bad series" won't define India's batting department as he addressed recent team criticisms following away series losses to Ireland and England.

“I told this before as well, one or two bad series won't define us as a batting department, because we wanted to dominate throughout the whole year before the World Cup, and no matter who, against whom we are playing. But I feel as a batter, as a cricketer, sometimes it's gonna go up and down. But it's the team dressing room momentum and the way we all think about it. I feel that's very important, because that's the time we have to be in one unit and just focus on the next game and just keep on dominating,” quoted Abhishek at the post-match presentation.

The southpaw attributed his success to focusing on processes as he amassed 229 runs in three matches at a strike rate of 269.41.

“I feel it all depends on the process I've been doing before every series. It's just, it's very particular for me against whom I'm gonna play and who are gonna be the bowlers. So for personally me as a batter, it's always been about the process: how I'm gonna utilize the power play, who is gonna bowl me the power play, and then the seventh, eighth over. It's very specific for me,” he stated.

Sharma credited the team culture promoted by the leadership for allowing him to play aggressively and dominate.

“I feel once you want to play in this certain way, it's very important that the captain and the coach has to be on your side, because, I mean, you have to get that surety from the management and from the coaches and from the captain as well. So I feel it's because of them as well we've been doing this from, like, quite a few years now, and hopefully we're gonna continue this as well,” he remarked.

Abhishek Sharma also emphasized that his goal is to play freely without restricting himself to specific areas of the ground, while aligning with the team's aggressive culture of dominating the powerplay overs.

“I feel it's, for me, I feel I don't want to restrict any area. It's just watch the ball and play according to it. For me it's very simple, from the day one. I just want to go and express myself, and I don't want to force the ball. It's just I just want to see and hit it, and it's gonna be very simple for me for the upcoming every matches as well. But as I've said before as well, you can't be sure about all the time that you're gonna be doing really well. But I feel the culture we've been developing in our team, it's just we have to dominate and we have to use the power play, so it's going really well,” he concluded.