‘Very important for captain and coach to be on your side’: Abhishek Sharma on Shubman Gill-Gautam Gambhir backing | Cricket News
NEW DELHI: Abhishek Sharma believes the backing of captain Shreyas Iyer and head coach Gautam Gambhir has played an important role in allowing him to play his natural game.Abhishek made the most of that freedom on Thursday, smashing a record 30-ball century against Afghanistan in the third and final T20I in Delhi. His 108 off 34 balls, which included 11 sixes, helped India post 221/7 and complete a 3-0 series sweep with a 127-run win.The left-hander was named both Player of the Match and Player of the Series after finishing the three-match series with 209 runs.Speaking after his match-winning knock, Abhishek said the team culture and the support of the captain and coach have allowed him to express himself without worrying about failures.“I’ve told in the first interview as well. We’ve been doing this last two years. One or two bad series won’t define us as a batting department. We wanted to dominate throughout the whole year before the world cup no matter who the opposition is. I feel as a batter, sometimes you have up and downs. The most important thing is as a team we have to be together and support each other. That’s how these innings happen,” Abhishek said at thye post match presentation.“I feel it’s all dependent on my process before every series. It’s very particular for me, against who I play and their bowlers. How I’m going to utilise the powerplay. Who’s going to bowl the powerplay, the 7th over, the 8th over,” he said.“And the way I play, it’s very important for the captain and the coach to be on your side. You have to get surety. I feel this is because of them as well. I feel I don’t want to restrict any area. It’s just watch the ball and play according to it. It’s very simple from day one. I just want to express myself. Just see the ball and hit the ball. You can’t be sure you’ll be doing well all the time but the culture we’ve developed in our team is to dominate and it’s been going well so far,” Abhishek said.
Abhishek turns dead rubber into his night
With India having already sealed the series, the third T20I was a dead rubber. Abhishek, however, ensured there was little doubt about where the spotlight would be. It was the first time in the series that India batted first and Abhishek immediately went after the Afghanistan attack. He brought up his fifty from just 16 balls and then completed his hundred in the ninth over.He reached 99 with a powerful pull off Abdullah Ahmadzai before taking a single to reach three figures. He then removed his helmet and celebrated with a seated meditation pose as the crowd rose to applaud him. His 108 came from only 34 balls and included 11 sixes and nine fours. It was the fastest T20I century by an Indian batter, beating Rohit Sharma’s 35-ball hundred against Sri Lanka in 2017.It was also the fastest T20I hundred by a batter from a Test-playing nation against another Test-playing nation, surpassing Finn Allen’s 33-ball century against South Africa earlier this year.
India race to 100 in six overs
Abhishek’s attack gave India a flying start. India reached 100 without losing a wicket in the powerplay, their highest score in the first six overs of a T20 match.Afghanistan struggled to contain him from the beginning. Azmat Omarzai conceded 17 runs in the second over, while Fazalhaq Farooqi gave away 23 in the third.Captain Ibrahim Zadran turned to spin during the powerplay, but that did little to stop Abhishek. Sanju Samson also joined the attack, hitting two straight sixes off Mohammad Nabi before Abhishek cleared the boundary twice in the same over, which cost Afghanistan 29 runs.Samson, dropped on 22 at mid-off by Zadran, went on to score 50 off 35 balls for his second successive fifty-plus score.Abhishek’s departure in the 10th over came with India on 142/1. India eventually finished on 221/7 after losing four wickets and scoring 37 runs in the final five overs.
Afghanistan collapse again
Afghanistan’s batting once again failed to put India under pressure. They were bowled out for 94 in 14.1 overs, giving India a 127-run win.Nitish Kumar Reddy opened the bowling for India and conceded 15 runs in his first over before returning later to claim three wickets. Axar Patel removed Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Sediqullah Atal during the powerplay, while Jasprit Bumrah produced a sharp yorker to dismiss Darwish Rasooli. Yash Thakur then accounted for Ibrahim Zadran in the sixth over.Afghanistan were 47/4 at that stage and never recovered.Both teams will now head to the Asian Games.
