Team India opener Abhishek Sharma top-scored for his side with 69 in the third T20I match vs West Indies in Indore on Sunday.
Updated: October 12, 2026, 10:27 AM IST
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Abhishek Sharma en route to scoring 69 in third T20I match vs West Indies in Indore(Photo: IANS)
India vs West Indies 2026 3rd T20: Team India opener Abhishek Sharma led the way in the Indian innings with another audacious knock of 69 off 30 balls with five sixes and six fours to set up a total of 223 in the third T20I match vs West Indies at the Holkar Stadium in Indore on SundayThe Sunrisers Hyderabad opener equalled the record of former captain Suryakumar Yadav with his 13th fifty-plus knock at a strike-rate of over 200 in T20I cricket.
Abhishek also became the fastest to complete 2000 runs in T20I cricket, having achieved this feat in 1024 balls as compared to Suryakumar Yadav’s 1164 balls while former Australia captain Aaron Finch had achieved this feat in 1283 balls.
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But on Sunday night, Abhisek revealed that his game is not only based on ‘hitting sixes’The Indian opener was watchful to start his innings with West Indies choosing off-spinner Roston Chase to bowl the opening over of the match.
He was informed in the post-match press conference that India have hit 28 sixes as compared to West Indies, who have hit 42 sixes but the home side have hit more foursShreyas Iyer’s side are currently 2-1 up in the five-match T20I series after their 14-run win over West Indies in the third game at Indore.
“Of course, I feel it’s not about hitting sixesIt’s about getting that big over whenever you canIf you get that start, I feel it doesn’t matter if you hit a four or sixThe thing that matters is if you can convert that into a big over, and that’s what our plan is alwaysIf we get in the power play or maybe the first, second, or any over, we try to just get that big over in between,” Abhishek Sharma told the media in Indore on Sunday.
Abhishek Sharma looking unstoppable in Indore
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The world No2 T20I batter revealed that the initial plan was the get a few fours instead of aiming for sixes with Chase opening the bowling“Obviously, an off-spinner was bowling me the first overSo, it was just a battle between him and meAnd as I said in the post-innings interview as well, so I gave him respect in the first over because I think he’s bowling really well in this seriesSo, it’s just the plan went pretty well for me as well because in the powerplay only I was trying to just get a few runsAnd obviously, they had a plan for me, and I had to, you know, play better than that,” Abhishek Sharma added.
You can’t take West Indies for granted at any stage: Abhishek Sharma
Indian total of 223 was less than what they had scored in the second T20I match in Ranchi which they ultimately lost with more than an over to spareAbhishek Sharma said that Windies can’t be taken for granted at any stage.
“I think the West Indies is the kind of team against whom you can never say that the match has swung completely in our favorThat was in our minds, because we saw in the last match as well that whichever batter walks in, given the conditions here, it’s very easy for them to take the game away from anywhereSo that was in our mindsEven when wickets were falling, the talk in the huddle was that we need to remain ruthless from here on, not let them off the hook, and not give them even a single chance to make a comeback,” he said.
Abhishek said Shamar Springer’s aggressive batting highlighted West Indies’ ability to turn a match“If you saw today, the way Springer batted, I got really surprised by the way he played those shots; they weren’t easy shotsIn that case, you have to be on your toes all the timeEven if they are 50 for 5, they have the capability to turn things aroundWe were very much prepared this time that we had to be ruthlessEven if we had a good powerplay with the ball, we couldn’t afford to give them even one bad ballWe just wanted to execute our plans, and that’s what we did,” he said.
