Former Indian batter Mohammad Kaif has showered praise on Abhishek Sharma after India registered a comprehensive 127-run win against Afghanistan in the third T20I at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi, on Thursday.
Sharma scored a magnum opus knock of 108 runs off 34 balls, including nine fours and 11 sixes. The left-hander reached his century off just 30 balls, which is the fastest for a batter from a Test-playing nation. The southpaw scored his runs at a blistering strike rate of 317.65 as he batted at the top of his game.
“Abhishek has worked on his game as well. If you remember, he used to go to hit shots from the very first ball in the Asia Cup and got out as well. Now, he is giving himself three to four balls and then going for his shots. This was a commendable knock, and you will not find such a player again. He is a gift that we need to preserve,” Mohammad Kaif said in a video on his Instagram handle.
Sharma didn’t have a great series against Zimbabwe, managing only 11 runs in three games. However, he smashed a total of 22 sixes against Afghanistan in three matches.
“He dominated, hitting sixes down the ground. In this series, he has hit more sixes despite being under pressure. What we can learn from this is that if a batter does not score in a few innings, he does not become a bad batter, because an innings that is the fastest hundred comes after that, so it is important to back players.”
The former UP batter hailed Abhishek Sharma for making a stunning comeback against Afghanistan.
“There was a lot of pressure on Abhishek Sharma. In his last seven innings, there was no fifty, and in India, if you get out in one or two games, there is no guarantee you will get the third game. The competition is such that Vaibhav Suryavanshi is waiting behind. There was a lot of pressure. But the way he made a comeback and counterattacked, it is praiseworthy,” he said.
Abhishek scored 229 runs in three games of the series at an average of 76.33 and a blistering strike rate of 269.71 against Afghanistan. Thus, the left-hander was awarded Player of the Series.
