STATE TIMES NEWS
HARARE: Young Abhishek Sharma announced his arrival on the big stage with a breathtaking 46-ball century as India pummelled Zimbabwe by a whopping 100 runs in the second T20I to restore parity in a resounding fashion here Sunday.
This is India’s biggest margin of victory in terms of runs against Zimbabwe in T20Is.
The young Indian side didn’t carry the baggage of a shock-13-run defeat in the series-opener as left-handed opener Abhishek blended power with grace for a scintillating 100-run knock that propelled India to a massive 234 for two on a track where batting wasn’t exactly easy.
The ask was already stiff and Indian bowlers got breakthroughs at regular intervals to bowl out Zimbabwe for 134 in 18.4 overs to set the record straight.
Pacers Mukesh Kumar (3/37) and Avesh Khan (3/15) removed the top-order inside the Powerplay to kill the contest which became a formality after that.
The day certainly belonged to Abhishek, who mixed grace and power in equal measure in an innings, embellished with eight sixes and seven fours.
It made a normally stylish Ruturaj Gaikwad (77 not out off 47 balls) look pale in comparison during their 137-run stand for the second wicket.
His innings would also increase the headache for skipper Shubman Gill and stand-in coach VVS Laxman, who would need to take a tough call when Yashasvi Jaiswal is available from the third game.
After his century, there is no way that the Sunrisers Hyderabad opener can be dropped from the playing XI.
Having endured the disappointment of a four-ball duck on debut, Abhishek never looked under pressure on a track which his senior partner and current CSK partner Gaikwad found “difficult to feel set”.
The hallmark of his innings was fearlessness as he took calculated risks which paid off and allowed Gaikwad at the other end to get into the groove after playing and missing for the better part of his innings.
Abhishek got a reprieve on 27 when Wellington Masakadza dropped a regulation skier off Luke Jongwe. He never looked back after that.
Having started his international run account with a pulled six off-spinner Brian Bennett, who had got the better of him on Saturday.
His fifty came off another pulled six behind square off medium pacer Dion Myers, whose 28-run over actually opened the floodgates during the back-10 for the visitors.
The shot that was most pleasing to the eye was his inside out six off rival skipper Sikandar Raza, lofting his off-break with the turn over extra cover boundary.
