Abhishek Sharma credits blazing ton to teammate's bat

Playing just his second T20 international, 23-year-old Indian all-rounder Abhishek Sharma slammed a stunning 46-ball hundred in Harare. The youngster, who had made his debut earlier in the series after a brilliant showing in the 2024 edition of the Indian Premier League, was in superb touch and opened his account with a six off the third ball of the innings.

He also raced to his half-century with a six and then topped it off by smashing his hundred with a hat-trick of sixes in the 14th over.

The 46-ball ton is the joint-third by an India batter in men's T20Is. Rohit Sharma, who had hit a 35-ball ton against Sri Lanka in 2017, holds the record.

Abhishek Sharma was the top six-hitter in IPL 2024, hitting 42 of them in the 16 matches he played for Sunrisers Hyderabad. Abhishek made 484 runs in the season, striking at a rate of over 200. The impressive showing booked him a place in India's T20I squad for this series against Zimbabwe.

"My approach is always very much similar to this because if I feel it, even if it's the first ball, I'm going to go for it and I usually go for it," Abhishek said in the post-match press conference.

"And when it's my day, it usually goes like this. And if it's not, I don't mind because I practice a lot on this, mindset and this game I'm having right now."

He went on to credit his father for his six-hitting ability.

"Special mention to my dad, who in my childhood didn't allow too much interference from coaches," the left-handed opener said.

"He asked me to hit the big aerial shots. But he always told me this thing that if you want to play a lofted shot, it should go out of the boundaries."

The opener also credited skipper Shubman Gill, a childhood friend and under-19 teammate, for playing a small role in his maiden international hundred. Gill and Abhishek played together in the 2018 ICC Men's Under-19 Cricket World Cup, where India took home the title.

"Today I played with Shubman Gill's bat," Abhishek revealed.

"So a special thanks to the bat as well. And this happens, I think, from the under-12 days. Whenever I think like, this is a pressure game or this is, you know, a match where I should perform, I usually take his bat.

"Even in the IPL also, I usually ask for one bat. And today he gave me his bat. So I think it went really well."