Team India opener Abhishek Sharma smashed 59 in 24 balls in the rained-out first T20I match vs England at the Chester-le-Street in Durham on Wednesday.
Updated: July 2, 2026, 12:00 PM IST
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Team India opener Abhishek Sharma en route to scoring 59 in 1st T20I match vs England at Chester-le-Street. (Photo: IANS)
India vs England 2026 1st T20: Abhishek Sharma didn’t let the setback of losing the No. 1 position in the ICC T20I rankings after nearly a year affect him as he bounced back into form in the rained-out first game of five-match series against England at the Chester-le-Street in Durham on Wednesday. The world No. 2 T20I batter smashed another fifty in 20 balls – becoming the batter with fastest-ever half-century against England in this format.
He broke the record of KL Rahul’s 27-ball fifty in a T20I match in Manchester back in 2018. Abhishek also smashed 4 sixes in his knock of 59 in 26 balls with six fours as well. In the process, he has become the fifth Indian batter after Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya and Virat Kohli to complete 100 sixes in T20I cricket.
But more important than that, Abhishek also became the fastest Indian batter to complete 100 sixes in T20I cricket. The Sunrisers Hyderabad batter took 785 deliveries to complete 100 T20I sixes to break the world record while West Indies opener Evin Lewis had achieved this feat in 789 balls.
New Zealand opener Finn Allen took 871 balls to hit 100 sixes while Australia and Royal Challengers Bengaluru batter Tim David needed 931 deliveries. Former New Zealand batter Colin Munro reached this landmark in 963 balls and ex-India captain and batter Suryakumar Yadav took 1007 balls.
Abhishek now has 347 runs in just 7 T20I matches at an average of 49.57 with a strike-rate of 219.62 with 1 hundred and 2 fifties. His fifty along with captain Shreyas Iyer’s 68 in 47 balls powered India to 189 for 7 in 20 overs after electing to bat first. But the incessant rain at Chester-le-Street ended all hopes of Indian win as the entire England innings was washed out.
Abhishek Sharma understood conditions well: Parthiv Patel
Former India batter and Gujarat Titans assistant coach Parthiv Patel was full of praise for Abhishek Sharma’s blazing knock. “I thought he batted really well. He understood the conditions well. There was a slightly spongier bounce in Durham, but he made sure that whenever the opportunity presented itself, he capitalised on it,” Parthiv said on JioHotstar’s ‘Match Centre Live’
“That over from Saqib Mahmood was an important one, where he stepped out and hit three boundaries, two over point and one over mid-off. Then, when the spinners came on, he chose the right areas to hit those sixes. Scoring runs in the SENA countries, South Africa, England, New Zealand and Australia, puts a stamp on your authority and your skill set. Usually, that’s how you get judged. He did well in South Africa, then in Australia, and now he has scored runs in English conditions as well. That is the reason why he has been either the No. 1 or No. 2 T20I batter for almost a year,” Parthiv added.
