India’s young opener Abhishek Sharma on September 14 nullified the threat posed by Pakistan’s new ball bowler Shaheen Afridi in the run chase of 128 at Dubai International Cricket Stadium. Abhishek could not go on to score a fifty but his stunning display in the powerplay overs ruled out chances of Pakistan making a comeback. With his cameo, he ended up breaking former India T20I batter Virat Kohli’s record against Pakistan in the format for most runs in the powerplay overs. 

Even though Abhishek lost his wicket to Pakistan all-rounder Saim Ayub in the fourth over, he scored 31 runs from just 13 balls. His entertaining-yet-impactful knock featured four fours and two sixes.

Kohli’s record broken

The previous highest score by an Indian batter against Pakistan in powerplay overs of T20Is belonged to Kohli who scored 29 runs against Pakistan at the same venue three years ago. Kohli scored 29 runs from 24 balls in the powerplay overs in the T20 Asia Cup 2022 run chase.

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Kohli is followed by former India T20I skipper Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul. They scored 28 runs each in the powerplay overs against Pakistan in another T20 Asia Cup 2022 clash. 

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Abhishek’s carnage-filled start to run chase

As usual, Abhishek took the attacking approach from ball one. Abhishek danced down the track and hit the first ball of the run chase for a boundary down the ground. On the next ball, he hit Afridi over long-off for a massive six. In the third over, Abhishek hit a four towards backward point and it followed it up with a six over mid-wicket as Afridi slowed up the pace. 

In the fourth over, Abhishek hit two boundaries over extra-cover. On the fourth ball, he danced down the track but could not get to the pitch of the ball. The chip shot led to a regulation catch at long-off.

Abhishek’s strike rate game on point

In the previous group stage game against UAE, Abhishek scored 30 runs from 16 balls, featuring two fours and three sixes. His strike rate of 210.34 is the second-highest in the ongoing tournament.

India finish run chase early

When Abhishek departed, India were 41/2 after 3.4 overs. Captain Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma shared a 56-run partnership for the third wicket which was eventually broken by Ayub. Varma contributed with a run-a-ball 31. Then, Shivam Dube joined Suryakumar in the middle. Suryakumar hit the winning six on the fifth ball of the 16th over. He remained not out for 47 off 37 balls, including five fours and a six.