Follow UsAbhishek Sharma’s stocks in the shortest format grew in leaps and bounds, with a stellar 17-ball half-century in the fifth T20I against England on February 2 at Wankhede Stadium. The left-hander’s 17-ball half-century is the second-fastest 50 for India in the format, behind his mentor, Yuvraj Singh, who scored a 12-ball 50 against England in 2007.
While Samson gave India a pacy start, Abhishek took that aggression on from Samson and converted his start into a fifty, taking on the English bowlers with ease. The left-hander smoked both Jofra Archer and Mark Wood for sixes before launching an absolute assault against Jamie Overton.
12 balls - Yuvraj Singh vs England, Durban, 2007
17 balls - Abhishek Sharma vs England, Mumbai, 2025*
18 balls - KL Rahul vs Scotland, Dubai, 2021
18 balls - Suryakumar Yadav vs South Africa, Guwahati, 2022
Abhishek welcomed Overton into the attack with two towering sixes to set India’s score blazing, getting to his landmark in the most T20-esque manner. He particularly enjoyed batting against Wood, with 20 runs off nine balls, where he found two fours and smashed a six. Unsurprisingly, Abhishek smoked 58 runs in the powerplay, the most for any Indian batter in history, bettering Jaiswal's 53-run effort against Australia in Vishakapatnam.
58* - Abhishek Sharma vs England, Mumbai, 2025
53 - Yashasvi Jaiswal vs Australia, Thiruvananthapuram, 2023
51* - Rohit Sharma vs Australia, St Lucia, 2024
50* - Rohit Sharma vs New Zealand, Hamilton, 2020
50 - KL Rahul vs Scotland, Dubai, 2021
In the process, the left-hander also went past KL Rahul’s 18-ball half-century against Scotland, becoming the second-fastest Indian to score a half-century. Naturally, India also managed to top all their powerplay records, smashing 95 in the first six overs.