 "India opener Abhishek Sharma celebrates after completing his half-century in the Asia Cup Super 4s match against Pakistan. AP")
Abhishek Sharma has been among the stand-out players in the ongoing Asia Cup and on Sunday, the left-handed Indian opened delivered their best performance of the tournament so far with a fiery 74 off just 39 deliveries.
LIVE | India vs Pakistan, Asia Cup Super 4s match in Dubai
The 23-year-old struck five sixes and six fours, striking at nearly 200 (189.74) and forged a massive 105-run opening partnership with Shubman Gill to put the Men in Blue in the driving seat after they were set a challenging 172 to win by Pakistan in their Super 4s clash in Dubai.
Abhishek breaks multiple records during explosive knock
And during his breath-taking knock, Abhishek surpassed West Indies’ Evin Lewis to become the fastest batter to 50 T20I sixes in terms of deliveries faced – taking Full Member nations into account. Abhishek reached the milestone in 331 deliveries, 35 fewer than Lewis and 179 fewer than India T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav – the next Indian on the list.
That wasn’t all for the young southpaw though, as he also surpassed his mentor Yuvraj Singh to slam the fastest fifty by an Indian against Pakistan in the shortest format. Abhishek brought up his half-century in 24 deliveries, five fewer than iconic all-rounder Yuvraj – also a left-handed batter – during his 36-ball 72 against the Men in Green in Ahmedabad in 2012.
Abhishek also had a run-in with Pakistan pacer Haris Rauf during the fifth over of India’s chase, which took place shortly after a similar heated moment between Gill and Shaheen Shah Afridi . And just when he was setting his sights on a century, Abhishek was caught by Rauf near long on off Abrar Ahmed’s bowling.
At the time of his dismissal, which took place in the 13th over, India needed less than 50 to win with plenty of wickets in hand.