Abhishek Sharma breaks another record, pips former skipper Suryakumar Yadav

India's opener Abhishek Sharma set another record by becoming the fastest player to reach 2000 T20I runs in terms of balls faced. He achieved this feat in just 1024 deliveries during the 3rd T20I against West Indies at Indore on Sunday, surpassing his former skipper Suryakumar Yadav. Suryakumar required 1164 deliveries to achieve the same milestone.

Abhishek had previously reached a century in just 30 deliveries, the fastest by any Indian in the format, against Afghanistan in a previous match. This record had belonged to Rohit Sharma since 2017. Additionally, in July, Abhishek also became the fastest batter to smash 100 sixes in T20Is, beating West Indies’ Evin Lewis, who took 789 deliveries to reach the milestone.

Among players from Full-Member nations, Finn Allen from New Zealand holds the second spot, achieving the feat in 871 balls. Abhishek, who made his T20I debut for India in July 2024, has emerged as one of the most explosive opening batters in the world during the current World Cup cycle and ranks second in the ICC T20I Rankings for batters.

Despite a disappointing performance in the World Cup earlier this year, Abhishek impressed with a half-century in the final against New Zealand in Ahmedabad in March. In the ongoing three-match T20I series against West Indies, the series is now level at 1-1. West Indies opted to bowl first in the third T20I, with Romario Shepherd and Akeal Hosein resting for the match.

For Romario, Quentin Sampson came in, while Keemo Paul replaced Hosein. Similarly, India made two changes, with Nitish Kumar Reddy replacing Shivam Dube and pacer Prince Yadav replacing left-arm spinner Kuldeep Yadav.