Abhishek Sharma is breaking T20 cricket’s biggest rule: That consistency is impossible

T20 cricket is thrill-a-minute. One moment, a team could be losing two wickets in the same over, and a few seconds later, another of their batters could be charging down the track to shift pressure back onto the opposition. There is barely any respite. For batters. For bowlers. For the captains. For those watching. For pretty much everyone.

Because the game moves so fast, it also demands that teams and players abandon their usual inhibition, which means that the textbook riposte often gets shelved, with the more unorthodox and unconventional methods holding sway. It is, therefore, a format designed and programmed to value proactiveness and slightly irregular performance patterns. Even if it comes at the cost of consistency.

But every once in a while, someone comes along and threatens to crack the code. Marrying the cavalier nature of the format with consistency, and creating an aura, wherein a belligerent onslaught feels inevitable, rather than improbable.

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And that someone wears No.4 for India in T20Is. He bats at the top of the order, and the rankings say there is no batter better than him on the planet. After Wednesday in Nagpur, it is tough to argue against that supposition either.

Abhishek Sharma: ‘A cut above the rest in T20s’

Ever since his India U-19 days, Abhishek Sharma has been touted for success. But in the last year or so, he has scaled peaks that may have previously been perceived as insurmountable.

Since the start of 2025, he has scored 943 runs across 22 T20I innings, and those runs have come at an average of 44.9. That, in itself, is remarkable. But his strike rate of 196.86 highlights how he has been a cut above the rest. And reflects how he has not just added levels to his game, but has also pushed the levels that others may now aspire to reach in T20I cricket.

To spell it out further, no batter (with a minimum of 500 runs scored) has mustered runs at a quicker clip than Abhishek. Of those boasting a better average, only two are from Test-playing nations (Tilak Varma and Tim Seifert), and neither strikes at more than 165.

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This turnaround, with consistency as the key peg, reached a crescendo at last year’s Asia Cup. At times, it was Abhishek or bust for India. That was, in no way, a blot on the others in the squad. Instead, it portrayed just how much Abhishek had grown and how he was finding conditions far easier than the rest.

You keep on counting, he keeps on hitting! 🤩😍

𝗠𝗿. 𝗠𝗔𝗫𝗜𝗠𝗨𝗠, Abhishek Sharma, is taking bowlers to the cleaners as he smashes his 5th SIX of the innings! 🔥👏🏻#INDvNZ | 1st T20I | LIVE NOW 👉 https://t.co/o7KbRwpZwK pic.twitter.com/1MyyCmbcP6

— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) January 21, 2026

That was also the case in Nagpur on Wednesday. Early indications were that the pitch was a little two-paced. Slower balls held in the surface. A couple did not get up very much, and stroke-making seemed tricky initially. Not to Abhishek, though.

Throughout his tenure at the crease, it felt as if he was batting on a different surface altogether. The ball pinged off his bat and often landed onto the green between the stands and the advertising hoardings. And it is not as if Abhishek peppered just one area. There were sixes over the bowler’s head, a couple of clubs over cow corner, plus a few scythes over the off side. And when Abhishek decided fours were not the worst outcome in the world, he blazed it through and over cover.

What stood out was how composed Abhishek looked. Controlled aggression may be one of the most overused paradoxes in cricket, but nothing, at the moment, seems to explain his ball-striking better. Earlier, there used to be situations where Abhishek would try to over-hit, lose his shape and his wicket. Not anymore.

Abhishek’s batting with brains

He also seems to be a step ahead of the bowlers. And that shone through when New Zealand bowled spin to Abhishek. Ish Sodhi, who often prefers the googly against the left-handers, tried to pre-empt Abhishek advancing. India’s opener, though, was smart enough to figure that out. He waited on the back foot as Sodhi dropped it short, and carved it through point. Glenn Phillips, a part-time off-spinner, came in for similarly severe treatment, with New Zealand skipper Mitchell Santner not spared either.

All of that culminated in Abhishek ransacking 84 off just 35 balls. And yet, it felt that he had left a few runs out there. Mostly because of how awesome his batting had been up to that point, but also because Abhishek has made this a bit of a habit.

The big question now, of course, is whether he can replicate these returns at the T20 World Cup, where India will attempt to defend their crown, and where Abhishek will aim to cast himself among the true greats in the format, who tend to play crucial roles in winning their country global silverware. What Abhishek has going for him, however, is that the conditions, the opposition and the occasion barely seem to matter to him.

There will still be the odd day when he frustrates. When he gets out trying to up the ante and looks a little ungainly. It is vital that when those phases come around, he is given the requisite backing, and is allowed the leeway to exercise the goodwill he has generated.

But that time, at least at this juncture, seems far, far away. Meaning that whenever Abhishek now walks out to bat, there is a sense of anticipation, and expectation. That he will wow thousands in the stands and a million others at home.

That Abhishek will produce a salvo that knocks the opposition off their early stride and ultimately knocks the stuffing out of them, which is precisely what happened to New Zealand, who, lest we forget, came into the game on the back of a history-making ODI series win, only to realize they were contending with a different beast.

And that is what Abhishek has become over the past year: a different beast. An enforcer who never seems to break into a sweat and still causes consternation among those he is up against. Because of how fickle and fast-paced this T20 format is, such occurrences should, ideally, not be frequent.

That this now feels the norm is a testament to Abhishek’s ability and his mercurial talent. And that is why he is probably the best T20 batter on the planet currently. Not because he can cream sixes at will. A lot of people can do that. Many, though, cannot do it every single time. Abhishek has shown he can.

T20 cricket may be thrill-a-minute. It may be fickle. It may rattle along at a million miles per hour. But like all things Abhishek lately, it hardly seems to matter to him.

New Zealand know that now. The thousands that had turned up in Nagpur know that as well. India, though, have known it for a while. Chances are the world has too.