Indian opener Abhishek Sharma remained unfazed as he faced England quicks at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai in fifth and final T20I of the series. Abhishek stepped down and hit Jofra Archer for boundaries as if he is facing an ordinary medium pacer. Often, the boundaries he scored looked effortless during the record-breaking 135-run knock as England ran out of ideas to do damage control. England coach Brendon McCullum doffed his hat to Abhishek and labelled his knock as one of the best he has seen in the format.
"First and foremost, the innings we saw from Abhishek is as good an innings as we've ever witnessed in T20 cricket. He's not just doing it against any attack, he's doing it against four guys who bowl 90mph and an absolute gun leg-spinner,’ McCullum told the media .
McCullum who is considered a T20 legend himself compared him to other legendary performers of the format -- Chris Gayle Aaron Finch, AB de Villiers - for his brutal hitting display.
"I'm very realistic that when I see someone come out of the telephone box and play an innings like that, sometimes you throw all the different plans you want at it but if he's hitting it like that, you really can't stop it. We've seen so many players over the years in this format that have been able to do it - Chris Gayle, Aaron Finch, AB de Villiers - and maybe Abishek Sharma is putting his hand up as one of those players," said the former Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) batter who scored 158 in Indian Premier League (IPL) 2008 opener.
Buttler lauds Abhishek
Earlier, England captain Jos Buttler had praised Abhishek for bring his learnings from IPL alongside Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) opening partner Travis Head to T20Is.
“Shellshocked’s not quite the word, I think. It can be difficult sometimes when a player gets on a roll and they play as well as he did. Looking back at the last IPL, he and Travis Head were the same at the top of the order for Sunrisers (Hyderabad) and he’s brought that into India," he told the media after the massive 150-run loss.
After the defeat in T20I series, England will look to stage a turnaround in the three-ODI series beginning on February 6.