Abhishek Sharma slams 16 sixes in 52-ball 148 against Bengal in SMAT 2025, equals Rohit Sharma, Jos Buttler's rare feat

India’s hard-hitting opener Abhishek Sharma scripted history against Bengal in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2025 encounter on November 30. The Punjab opener scored 148 runs from just 52 balls, featuring 16 sixes and eight fours.

This was Abhishek’s eighth T20 century, joint fourth-most by a batter in T20s. The top spot belongs to West Indies' Chris Gayle (22), followed by Pakistan's Babar Azam (11), South Africa's Rilee Rossouw (9) and India's Virat Kohli (9).

Batters who have eight T20 centuries are -- Australia's Michael Klinger, Aaron Finch, David Warner, Glenn Maxwell, South Africa's Faf du Plessis and England's Jos Buttler.

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Abhishek’s sensational knock

Abhishek had reached his fifty from just 12 balls, the joint second-fastest by an Indian batter. He completed his eighth T20 century from 32 balls. Writtick Chatterjee faced the brunt of Abhishek who tonked him for eight sixes. The southpaw missed out on scoring 150 as he lost his wicket to Akash Deep in the 18th over of the innings.

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Abhishek’s 16 sixes is the second-most by a batter in an Innings in SMAT history. In 2021 season, Meghalaya's Punit Bisht hit 17 sixes in his unbeaten 51-ball 146 against Mizoram.

Tilak Varma’s record remains unbroken

The 25-year-old missed out on breaking the record for highest individual score in SMAT. He went past Mumbai's Shreyas Iyer's score of 147 which he achieved in 2019. The top spot still belongs to Hyderabad's Tilak Varma. He scored 151 runs from 67 balls against Meghalaya in the previous edition.

Highest opening partnership -

Abhishek and Prabhsimran Singh shared a 205-run opening partnership. This is the highest opening partnership in SMAT. Prabhsimran scored 70 runs from 35 balls, including eight fours and four sixes.The highest opening partnership was created a few days ago by Kerala's Sanju Samson and Rohan Kunnummal. They shared a 177-run opening partnership against Odisha in Lucknow.

It is also the second-highest partnership in SMAT for any wicket. The top spot is occupied by Mumbai's Suryakumar Yadav and Shreyas Iyer and Shreyas Iyer who shared a 213-run opening partnership against Sikkim in 2019.

Punjab cross 300 

Punjab became the fifth team in T20 history to post a total in excess of 300. Punjab posted 310/5 on the board, fourth-highest T20 total, surpassing England's 304/2 against South Africa. The highest T20 score was scored in previous edition of SMAT. Krunal Pandya's Baroda scored 349/5 against Sikkim, featuring Bhanu Punia's unbeaten 51-ball 134.