Record Alert! Abhishek Sharma Hammers 28-Ball Hundred In Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, Equals Urvil Patel

Explosive Indian opener Abhishek Sharma has equalled fellow cricketer Urvil Patel's record by smacking the joint second-fastest T20 hundred in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy fixture against Meghalaya in Saurashtra. The left-handed batter plundered 11 sixes, bringing up his ton in 28 deliveries. He eventually stayed unbeaten on 106 off 29 balls.

Meghalaya, led by Akash Choudhary, huffed and puffed their way to 142 in their stipulated 20 overs as Arpit Bhatewara top-scored with 31. Before starring with the bat, Abhishek also starred with the ball as his left-arm spin yielded figures of 4-0-24-2, while Ramandeep Singh also snared a couple of scalps. Ashwani Kumar, Harpreet Brar and Sohraab Dhaliwal chipped in with one each.

In response, Sahil Arora and Harnoor Singh perished for single-figure scores but it didn't bog down Abhishek. Dhaliwaal blasted 22 off 15 deliveries, while Ramandeep stayed unbeaten on 8 as Punjab won with 63 balls to spare.

Abhishek Sharma made his Team India debut on the back of a stellar IPL season:

The southpaw, who was part of SunRisers Hyderabad, had an outstanding IPL 2024, hammering 484 runs in 16 matches at 32.26 alongside a strike rate of 204.21. His opening partnership was Travis Head was one of the significant reasons behind the Orange Army's run to the finals of the edition.

Abhishek, 24, also scored a century in his debut series against Zimbabwe and now has 256 runs in 12 T20Is alongside a century and a half-century.