5 records broken by Abhishek Sharma during his knock of 100 in ZIM vs IND 2nd T20I
Young sensation Abhishek Sharma repaid the selectors' faith in him as he slammed 100 off 47 in the second T20I against Zimbabwe on Sunday, July 7 in Harare. His glorious innings, comprising of seven fours and eight sixes, completely floored the Zimbabwean bowling unit.
Sharma stitched together a 137-run stand with Ruturaj Gaikwad (77* off 47) to drive the team at an expensive rate. Coming in at No. 4, Rinku Singh slammed 48* off 22 balls as the Men in Blue posted a mammoth 234 on the board.
In response, the hosts were bundled out for 134 and lost by 100 runs. Avesh Khan and Mukesh Kumar were the key wicket-takers for the Indian team.
On that note, let's take a look at the five records broken by Abhishek Sharma in the second T20I against Zimbabwe.
#1 Fourth youngest Indian player to hit a T20I hundred
At 23 years and 307 days, Abhishek Sharma is the fourth youngest Indian player to hit a century in T20Is.
Previously, Yashasvi Jaiswal (21 years and 279 days) hit 100 off 49 against Nepal in the 2023 Asian Games. At 23 years and 146 days, Shubman Gill smoked 126* off 63 against New Zealand in February 2023, as India won by a staggering 168 runs.
Suresh Raina (23 years and 156 days) scored 101 off 60 in the 2010 T20 World Cup clash against South Africa.
#2 Joint-third fastest T20I century by an Indian
Completing his century off 46 balls, Abhishek Sharma is now the joint-third fastest Indian batter to reach the three-figure mark. Interestingly, the veteran batter, Rohit Sharma took just 35 balls to slam a century against Sri Lanka in 2017.
Meanwhile, Suryakumar Yadav scored a century off 45 balls against Sri Lanka in 2023 while KL Rahul shares the record with Abhishek, as he scored a century off 46 balls against West Indies in 2016.
#3 Fewest innings taken by Indian batter to smack a century in T20Is
With his astounding knock, Abhishek Sharma etched his name into the history books by becoming the fastest Indian batter (in terms of innings) to reach the three-figure mark in the shortest format.
After a duck in his debut game in the first T20I of the series, Sharma hit a century in the following game; thus taking only two innings to reach the milestone.
Overall, he joined the likes of Evin Lewis and Richard Levi, who also achieved the feat in two innings.
#4 Most runs scored by an Indian in a T20I game against spinners
In his only second T20I appearance, Sharma broke his mentor, Yuvraj Singh's record. The youngster garnered 65 runs against the Zimbabwean spinners, depicting his dominance over them.
In December 2012, Yuvraj returned with an impressive knock of 72 off 36 balls against Pakistan in Ahmedabad. Out of those 72, Yuvraj scored 57 against the spinners while hitting three consecutive sixes against Saeed Ajmal.
#5 First Indian to complete a century by hitting three consecutive sixes
This was the first time an Indian batter reached the three-figure mark by hitting three consecutive sixes across all formats.
Batting on 82 off 43, Abhishek Sharma slammed two sixes towards the deep mid-wicket region while completing his hundred by flicking the full toss to the deep fine leg stands against Wellington Masakadza. However, he was dismissed in the final delivery of the same over.
Previously, Shubman Gill reached his double century by hitting three consecutive sixes against New Zealand pacer Lockie Ferguson in January 2023.