Indian opener Abhishek Sharma is on a record-breaking spree. Day after day, he is scripting history and making his name more brilliant in the annals of T20I cricket.
On Wednesday, the left-hander scored
a brilliant half-century against Bangladesh in the 2025 Asia Cup’s Super Four stage at the Dubai International Stadium, scoring 75 off 37 with six boundaries and five sixes at a strike rate of 202.70. It took him only 25 balls to cross the 50-run mark, as early as the seventh over.
It was the fifth time in his nascent career that Abhishek took 25 or fewer balls for a half-century. With it, he went past his mentor and former Punjab and India legend, Yuvraj Singh, who had four such half-centuries to his name. Now, only two Indians have more such fifties — Suryakumar Yadav (seven) and Rohit Sharma (six).
Yuvraj has famously played an important role in Abhishek’s career. It’s often spoken about how Yuvraj trained him and his teammates like Shubman Gill and Prabhsimran Singh to imbue more discipline and tenacity in them.
Abhishek’s father Raj Kumar Sharma has also credited Yuvraj for raising Abhishek’s game.
“Yuvi paaji played a big role in the upliftment of Abhishek’s game. Yuvraj is his guru, and he always shares his experience with Abhishek. If a player who has won India two World Cups on his own teaches a player who is under his tutelage, he will naturally become a top-level cricketer,” Raj Kumar told The Times of India.
“Yuvraj’s main guru mantra to Abhishek has always been: ‘play according to the situation of the game’. He also wants Abhishek to make the match for India. His batting should be such that he plays for the team and wins games for India and not play for his individual self,” he added.
Abhishek is currently the only player with over 200 runs in the 2025 Asia Cup. Even against Bangladesh, he got run-out after looking impregnable for most of his knock.
