Abhishek Sharma: The destructive run machine

With his clean and fearless batting, Abhishek Sharma has established himself as one of the most explosive T20 batters in the world

By Kathakali Chanda

Last Updated: Jan 16, 2026, 12:29 IST3 min

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Abhishek Sharma, Cricketer. Photo by Francois Nel/Getty Images

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Abhishek Sharma (25)
Cricketer

Rajkumar Sharma was visiting an under-14 camp in Mohali when Arun Bedi, its coach and former Punjab player, pulled him aside and predicted that two of his 30 wards would go on to play for India. One was Shubman Gill, the other his son Abhishek. “I asked him how he could possibly foresee their future when they were just kids,” says Sharma, himself a former first-class player. That’s when DP Azad, the director of the academy and Kapil Dev’s legendary mentor, stepped in. “Azad saab told me he wasn’t being facetious,” says Sharma, “and that he knew for sure that these two boys were exceptional.”

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The two stalwarts of Punjab cricket couldn’t have been more prescient. Now the India captain in Tests and ODIs, Gill’s rise needs no retelling. And Abhishek, who was a bit late off the starting block, has now made the T20 format his own. In 2025, he became ICC’s No 1 ranked batter in the format, with the highest-ever ranking points earned by a cricketer.

But the 859 T20I runs he has scored in the year—and 1602 overall, the second-highest by an Indian batter in the format in a calendar year after Virat Kohli’s 1614 in 2016—is only part of the story. The other is how he scores them.

Among the most destructive modern openers, Abhishek became the first Indian to hit over 100 sixes in T20 internationals in a year. His blitzkrieg approach has amped up his annual strike rate (the number of runs scored per 100 balls) to 202.01, the highest in the year.

Abhishek also remains the only batter in the shortest format to score at least 1,000 runs at a strike rate of 190+ in a calendar year twice—the last time he did that was in 2024, when he finished with a strike rate of 198.07. His consistent power-hitting has given him a career T20I strike rate of 188.98, the highest among all batters in this format.

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“I used to tell him that when you can hit the ball so cleanly, why not hit some shots along the ground,” recalls Sharma. “He used to reply that why hit along the ground when I can hit out of the ground so easily?” He adds: “It doesn’t mean Abhishek isn’t fit for the longer formats. He has come through the ranks by playing one-dayers and four-day matches for Punjab and North Zone.”

The Covid lockdown was a watershed moment in Abhishek’s career. When the world shut down in 2021, he went to stay and train with Yuvraj Singh, the Player of the Tournament in India’s victorious 2011 World Cup campaign. This is where, says Bhupinder Singh, former India and Punjab bowler, Abhishek learnt how to succeed at the international level.

“When you play international bowlers at 140+ speed, key things like selection of shots, learning how to use bowling angles are very important. Unless someone who’s been there and done that teaches you, it’s difficult to know,” says Singh, an ex-administrator with the Punjab Cricket Association. “Once Abhishek started doing it in front of Yuvraj, one of the best hitters, he got the confidence. It shows in his game.”

In his second international T20 match in 2024, he scored a century off 61 balls. In February 2025, against England at Mumbai, he racked up 135 runs in 54 balls. This year, he also hit his first IPL hundred for Sunrisers Hyderabad, breaching the 400-run mark in the tournament for the third time in four years. “His hitting isn’t slam-bang; there is a process behind it,” adds Singh.

In his IPL seasons with Sunrisers Hyderabad, Abhishek has opened with Travis Head, among the most explosive batters, and learnt from the likes of West Indian legend Brian Lara and Muttiah Muralitharan, the world’s most prolific Test bowler, both of whom have been part of the team’s coaching staff. “Murali sir told me that he is known for foxing most left handers with his off-spin, but Abhishek plays him cleanly,” says Sharma. And like the Sri Lankan’s bowling once did, this Amritsar boy is also turning heads.

First Published: Jan 16, 2026, 12:39

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(This story appears in the Jan 09, 2026 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, Click here.)