Abhishek Sharma has come a good distance from the little boy in Amritsar who first picked up a cricket bat on the age of three-and-a-half. On his birthday, his journey stands out as one of the outstanding rises in fashionable T20 cricket, from a promising teenager in Punjab to an India common and the holder of the highest-ever ICC T20I batting score.
The boy who began cricket at three-and-a-half
Abhishek’s father, Raj Kumar Sharma, a former cricketer, launched him to the sport when he was simply three-and-a-half. The teenager shortly developed an obsession with batting and progressed by means of Punjab’s age-group system.His numbers quickly started attracting consideration. Throughout the 2015-16 Vijay Service provider Trophy, Abhishek scored greater than 1,200 runs at a median of 109.09 and likewise claimed 57 wickets. He captained Punjab to the Below-19 Asia Cup title in 2016 earlier than turning into a part of India’s victorious Below-19 World Cup marketing campaign in 2018.The IPL got here at simply 17, when Delhi Daredevils picked him within the 2018 public sale. His profession, nevertheless, didn’t explode instantly. Abhishek spent a number of seasons creating his recreation by means of home cricket and the IPL earlier than discovering the proper platform for his aggressive fashion.
Yuvraj Singh’s affect shapes his fearless method
A significant affect throughout that interval was Yuvraj Singh. The previous India all-rounder turned Abhishek’s mentor and labored intently with him, notably in the course of the Covid-19 lockdown. Yuvraj understood the teenager’s attacking instincts and inspired him to embrace them moderately than turn into overly cautious. That philosophy ultimately turned the inspiration of Abhishek’s T20 recreation.His worldwide breakthrough got here after making his T20I debut in July 2024. In February 2025, Abhishek produced one of the devastating T20I innings by an Indian batter when he smashed 135 off simply 54 balls towards England in Mumbai. The innings contained 13 sixes and a 37-ball century, saying him as one in all India’s most harmful T20 batters.
From breakthrough star to world-record holder
The 135 was solely the start. Throughout the 2025 Asia Cup, Abhishek established himself as India’s attacking power on the prime of the order. He scored 314 runs in seven matches at a strike charge of 200 and was named Participant of the Event as India gained the competitors.His performances pushed him to the highest of the ICC T20I batting rankings and ultimately into record-breaking territory. After scoring 61 towards Sri Lanka, Abhishek reached 931 score factors, the highest-ever score achieved by a males’s T20I batter.He surpassed Dawid Malan’s earlier document of 919 and moved past the very best rankings achieved by India’s Suryakumar Yadav and Virat Kohli.
A T20 batter constructed for destruction
The numbers behind Abhishek’s rise had been extraordinary. In 2025, he turned the primary participant to attain greater than 1,000 runs in T20 cricket in a calendar yr whereas sustaining a strike charge above 200. He completed the yr at a strike charge of 202 and smashed 108 sixes.His IPL performances had been equally damaging. Enjoying for Sunrisers Hyderabad, Abhishek produced a shocking 141 off 55 balls towards Punjab Kings in IPL 2025. He reached his fifty in solely 16 balls and his century in 40, hitting 14 fours and 10 sixes as Hyderabad chased down 246. The innings broke KL Rahul’s document for the very best rating by an Indian batter in IPL historical past.His improvement has been formed by a number of influential figures. Other than Yuvraj, Abhishek has drawn classes from gamers equivalent to Shikhar Dhawan, Brian Lara and Travis Head. At Sunrisers, his partnership with Head confirmed how successfully his aggressive method may work towards the very best bowling assaults.On the 2026 T20 World Cup, Abhishek added one other main achievement to his rising checklist, taking part in a vital function in India’s title-winning marketing campaign, together with a blistering 52 off 21 balls within the last towards New Zealand.
T20I profession up to now
Abhishek Sharma has performed 56 T20Is between 2024 and 2026, scoring 1,629 runs in 55 innings at a median of 30.73 and a outstanding strike charge of 187.24. He has registered two centuries and 11 fifties, with a highest rating of 135. His aggressive method is mirrored in his boundary rely, with the left-hander hitting 164 fours and 104 sixes in his worldwide profession up to now.
