Indian opener Abhishek Sharma gave credit to head coach Gautam Gambhir and Suryakumar Yadav for backing him after his whirlwind knock against England in the fifth T20I at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai on Sunday. 

Sharma revealed Gambhir and SKY have told him to show his intent in T20Is since day one. The youngster scored a magnum opus knock of 135 runs off just 54 balls with the help of seven fours and 13 sixes as he batted at his absolute best.

The southpaw brought his fifty off just 17 balls, scoring the second-fastest fifty for India in T20Is, and continued batting aggressively. The left-hander completed his century off just 37 balls, which is the second fastest for India and third fastest overall.

Abhishek Sharma said in the post-match presentation after he was awarded Player of the Match, “It’s a special one. Coming for the country, it’s always a great feeling. I’ve told this before as well. When I see it’s my day, I always try to go from the first ball. The way the coach and captain have treated me from the first day, they always wanted this intent and always backed me – that was a special thing for me. When the opponents are bowling 140-150 plus, you have to be ready a second before anyone else. Just wanted to react to the ball and play my shots.”

He added, “When you’re hitting a world-class bowler over cover (his shot off Archer), it’s always a special shot. The sixes off Rashid were also special for me. Yes, remember that (the straight drive). That was the special shot which Yuvi paaji mentioned last day. He should be happy after this. He always wanted me to bat till 15-20 overs. Even Gauti paaji wanted the same thing. So I think today was my day and I implemented well.”

The first ODI between India and England will be played at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium, Nagpur on Thursday.