‘Have been wanting to play this brand of cricket,’ Abhishek Sharma on India’s aggressive approach

‌Abhishek Sharma has been a revelation at the top of the Indian batting order right from the time he made his debut against Zimbabwe in July 2024. He has already scored two hundreds and five fifties during his 24-match career, amassing 849 runs at an average of 36.91 and a stunning strike rate of 196.07.

The current year has been even better, with the Punjab batter scoring the most runs among full-member nations with a tally of 593 runs in 12 matches, averaging a shade below 50 and striking at 208.80. Earlier this year, he went past his India U19 and Punjab teammate Shubman Gill to record the highest individual score by an Indian batter in T20Is with a 54-ball 135 against England in Mumbai.

In the Asia Cup too, he continued his record-breaking run to be awarded the Player of the Tournament after fetching 314 runs, the only batter to do so in this edition, to power the Men in Blue to the title with an unbeaten run. He smashed 19 sixes to break Rohit Sharma’s record for most sixes by an Indian batter in a multi-nation tournament. He was also the fastest batter, in terms of balls faced, to reach 50 career sixes in T20Is.

The batter was thankful that he had to face some hardships before making it big in the international circuit. His India U19 teammates Prithvi Shaw and Gill had made their international bows earlier, but the left-handed batter had to bide his time and sweat it out in the domestic scene.

It started with the 2023 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, the premier domestic T20 tournament in India, where he smashed two hundreds and three fifties in 10 matches to amass 485 runs at an average of 48.50 and a strike rate of 192.46 to power Punjab to the title. He then carried that form into the subsequent season of the Indian Premier League, scoring 484 runs at an astonishing strike rate of 204.21, which saw Sunrisers Hyderabad reach the final in 2024, before the big break came through.

"There have been ups and downs," Abhishek said after the thrilling Asia Cup final. "Some players get in easily, some come in after some difficulty. But I feel this was necessary. If I had made it quicker as a player, I wouldn't have learned some things."

Despite adopting a high-risk approach, the Indian opener had six scores of 30 or above in the Asia Cup, with the final against Pakistan being the only failure for him with the bat. Even in the high-pressure India-Pakistan setting, he was able to play his natural aggressive game up top. In the group game, he scored 31 off just 13 balls before smashing 74 off 39 balls in the Super Four game against the arch-rivals.

"Since the time I have been in the team, I have not felt this is a pressure match. We prepared for every match in the same way," he said. "Surya bhai [Suryakumar Yadav] and GG [Gautam Gambhir] bhai have given me confidence. When you want to play a high-risk game, failures do come. But the way they handled me, I am able to play like this because of that."

"It is very important to get such support from the team," he said. "We have been wanting to play this brand of cricket with intent from the start. Irrespective of the opposition, we will continue playing like this.

"I've had more time to work on a few things. So I've worked a lot on those things. I feel this is the start for the team. There will be more miracles going forward."