Abhishek Sharma’s mantra: Keep it simple, hit it hard

Abhishek Sharma has a simple answer for a complicated question: how do you score runs at a ridiculous rate in T20 cricket?

“Keep it simple.”

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On Thursday, the India opener put that philosophy into practice once again.

He smashed a 30-ball century against Afghanistan in Delhi, setting a new record for the fastest T20I hundred by a batter from a Full Member nation.

And yet, remarkably, it was not even his fastest hundred.

Abhishek had smashed a 28-ball century for Punjab against Meghalaya in the 2024 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.

This time, he finished with 108 off just 34 balls. By the ninth over, the damage was already done.

Abhishek reached his hundred from 30 balls, having already taken apart Afghanistan's attack during the Powerplay. He scored 76 from 22 balls in those opening six overs.

The numbers tell the story. The method is even simpler.

“I don't have a lot of shots,” Abhishek said after an earlier 85 off 34 against New Zealand.

He doesn't seem to need them. His game is built around a small number of shots that he trusts completely.

The pull over long-on and deep midwicket is one of them. So is charging down the pitch and hitting through the leg side.

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Against Afghanistan, those shots produced most of the damage.

Azmatullah Omarzai was pulled for a boundary in the second over. Rashid Khan was attacked with the same aggressive approach. In the final over of the Powerplay against Rashid, Abhishek went 4, 4, 6.

There was nothing complicated about the plan. Get forward. Make room. Hit.

Abhishek had specifically targeted Afghanistan's spin trio of Rashid, Mohammad Nabi and Mujeeb Ur Rahman. The result was brutal: 54 runs from just 15 balls.

He went forward against them. He danced down the pitch. He refused to retreat onto the back foot. That small adjustment made a huge difference.

In the first two T20Is, he had scored 29 from 17 balls against spin while using the back foot more often.

This time, he changed the equation.

Abhishek's batting can look like pure instinct, but there is plenty of calculation behind it.

Before each innings, he studies the bowlers he is likely to face and works out how he wants to attack the Powerplay.

“It's always about me backing my shots,” he said. “Because I don't have a lot of shots.” That simplicity has become his strength.

Earlier, this year's World Cup campaign began badly for him. Three ducks.

Three of his next five innings produced scores of 15, 10 and 9.

But the other two brought match-winning fifties — against Zimbabwe in a must-win Super Eight game and against New Zealand in the final.

That is Abhishek's game. There will be failures. He knows that. But when the plan works, it can destroy an attack in a matter of overs.

His monk-like celebration after reaching the hundred summed up the other side of his personality.

He sat in a padmasana pose, closed his eyes and appeared to meditate. Even head coach Gautam Gambhir could not hide a smile. The celebration quickly became almost as memorable as the innings itself.

But Abhishek was not interested in making it complicated.

“As a batter, as a cricketer, sometimes [my form is] going to go up and down,” he said.

That is the trade-off with his approach. T20 cricket rewards aggression, but it also punishes mistakes.

Abhishek has chosen to accept both.

His role alongside Sanju Samson for India and Travis Head at Sunrisers Hyderabad has pushed the limits of powerplay batting over the past two years.

His biggest World Cup moment was not even a century. It was an 18-ball fifty in the final.

Now he has added another record to the list.

T20 cricket may be packed with big scores, big sixes and bigger expectations.

Abhishek's answer remains the same. Keep the method simple.

Abhishek Sharma in T20I

Debut: July 06, 2024 in Harare 
Matches: 59
Runs: 1858
Highest: 135
Average: 33.17
100s: 3
50s: 12
SR: 194.55