Abhishek Sharma has evened with Urvil Patel for the alternate-fastest T20 century, striking the corner in 28 balls during a Syed Mushtaq Ali jewel clash between Punjab and Meghalaya. Urvil had reached there last week itself, when he hit 113 not out out 35 balls for Gujarat against Tripura in the same event. That record was registered six months ago by Sahil Chauhan who hit a 27 balls century for Estonia against Cyprus.
It was also Abhishek’s fourth hundred of the tournament, placing him at No. 1 on that list, ahead of Unmukt Chand, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer who have three apiece.
Chasing Meghalaya’s 142 for 7 in Rajkot, Abhishek opened the batting and remained unbeaten on 106 off just 29 deliveries. Punjab chased down the target in only 9.3 overs, primarily due to Abhishek’s blistering knock. It was Punjab’s fifth win in seven Group-A matches and the boost to their net-run-rate will help them remain in contention for a place in the knockouts.
Abhishek was retained by the franchise for INR 14 crore (US$1.67 million approx.) ahead of IPL 2024, having formed a destructive opening combination with Travis Head as Sunrisers Hyderabad’s two-pronged assault.
Earlier in the day, Baroda set a new record for the biggest team total in men’s T20 cricket when they scored 349 for 5 against Sikkim at Indore.
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