Sunil Gavaskar, former India captain, shared a lighthearted moment with star opener Abhishek Sharma following the first T20I against New Zealand in Nagpur.

Abhishek, 25, scored 84 off 35 balls as India defeated New Zealand by 48 runs to take a 1-0 lead in the five-match series. He needed just 22 balls to reach his sixth half-century in the format.

Sunil Gavaskar, who is part of the official broadcasting team, was in awe of Abhishek Sharma’s knock and praised the batter while conversing with him. He further highlighted the stark difference between the batting approach of modern-day players and his generation.

"He takes the same amount of balls to hit a half-century as what I used to take to get off the mark. There is a huge difference," Gavaskar said on Star Sports after the match.

Abhishek said that his high-strike-rate strategy is intentional "intent" rather than careless play after thinking back on his knock.

"We had a plan from day one and are just following it. I've figured out if you want to hit all balls or strike at 200, you have to carry intent. All teams have a plan for me. It's about my preparation. I'm going to back my instinct. I don't feel my role is high-risk; I wouldn't say this is my comfort zone. But I've been practicing to go big in the first six. I never do range-hitting. I'm more of a timing batter; I need to watch the ball and get used to the conditions. For that, I plan my net session. I feel if you watch your batting videos, you get an idea of where the bowler bowls to you," Abhishek said.

Abhishek added 99 runs with Suryakumar Yadav for the third wicket as the India captain scored 32 off 22 balls. Hardik Pandya made 25 off 16 balls, and Rinku Singh gave the perfect finish, hitting 44* in 20 balls with 4 fours and 3 sixes as India posted 238/7.

In response, Glenn Phillips made 78 and Mark Chapman made 39, while Daryl Mitchell made 28 runs, as New Zealand could only manage 190/7 and lost the game by 48 runs.

(AFP inputs)