Former Indian batter Sanjay Manjrekar has showered praise on in-form Abhishek Sharma amid the T20I series against New Zealand. Sharma scored a blistering knock of 68 runs off just 20 balls to help India chase down 154 runs in 10 overs.

The left-hander smashed seven fours and five sixes in his whirlwind knock. The youngster completed his fifty off just 14 balls, the second fastest T20I half-century for India after his mentor Yuvraj Singh, who scored a 12-ball fifty against England in the 2007 T20 World Cup.

Earlier in the series opener against the Kiwis, Sharma scored a blistering knock of 84 runs off just 35 balls.

“Right, just want to talk about Abhishek Sharma. What a sensational player and what a sensational T20 talent. It’s actually a very interesting thing when you look at Abhishek Sharma’s technique and then compare it with, you know, Test cricket technique and T20 cricket technique,” Manjrekar said in a video posted on Instagram.

Manjrekar said Abhishek has the perfect technique for T20 cricket.

“Now Abhishek Sharma is the perfect model when it comes to technique in T20 cricket. Now if you do that in T20 cricket, you’re finished. You’ll have a strike rate of 20,” he added.

The former Indian batter said Abhishek is unselfish as he doesn’t care about personal milestones and keeps batting aggressively.

“The other thing to like about him, he’s extremely unselfish. When you look at his hundreds that he’s got in T20 international, their strike rate is over 200. He’s not somebody who’s going to slow down just because he’s in the 90s,” he said. 

“He doesn’t care about getting out as well, which is a great quality to have in T20 cricket. Not afraid to get out. So first ball, he’ll take a risk and try and hit it for a six. Such batters are extremely dangerous. Not those who will hit a boundary and then look to extend their innings. So this is a guy who tries to maximize returns on every ball,” he added.

The fourth T20I between India and New Zealand will be played at Visakhapatnam on Wednesday.