Losing the No. 1 spot in the ICC T20I batting rankings did little to slow down Abhishek Sharma. The young Indian opener responded in the best possible way by playing a brilliant knock against England in the first T20I of the five-match series at the Riverside Ground in Chester-le-Street.
Opening the innings for Shreyas Iyer-led side on Wednesday (July 1), the left-handed batter from Amritsar scored 59 runs from just 24 balls. His aggressive innings included six boundaries and four towering sixes, helping India recover after a poor start.
Those four sixes also helped Abhishek Sharma achieve a major milestone. He became only the fifth Indian batter to hit 100 or more sixes in T20 Internationals for India. Before him, only Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya had reached the landmark.
Abhishek Sharma made his T20I debut against Zimbabwe in Harare in July 2024 and has quickly established himself as one of India’s most dangerous openers. Out of his 49 T20I appearances, he has opened the batting in 46 matches. In those 46 innings, he has already smashed 102 sixes, highlighting his fearless style of batting.
The 24-year-old also became just the second Indian opening batter after Rohit Sharma to reach the milestone of 100 T20I sixes while batting at the top of the order.
Rohit Sharma, who represented India in 159 T20Is between 2007 and 2024, opened the batting in 125 matches and hit 184 sixes in 124 innings as an opener. Behind Rohit Sharma and Abhishek Sharma on India’s list are KL Rahul with 84 sixes, Sanju Samson with 63, and Shikhar Dhawan with 50 sixes as opening batters.
The world record for the most sixes by an opening batter in T20I cricket belongs to Austria’s Karanbir Singh, who has smashed 207 sixes in just 56 innings as an opener.
Abhishek Sharma’s latest innings was an impressive comeback after he was dismissed for a golden duck in India’s previous T20I against Ireland in Belfast on June 28, 2026. Against England, he shared an important 82-run partnership from only 38 balls with captain Shreyas Iyer for the third wicket. Their stand helped India recover from 6/2 in the opening two overs and post a competitive total of 189/7 in their allotted 20 overs.
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