'Yuvraj Singh Should Be Happy': Abhishek Sharma After 135 vs England In 5th T20I

Opener Abhishek Sharma, who hammered a 54-ball 135 and claimed 2 wickets for three runs to help India thrash England by 150 runs in the fifth and final T20I, said his mentor Yuvraj Singh would have been really happy with his knock as he batted till the end of the innings, staying till the 18th over at the Wankhede Stadium here on Sunday. The left-handed opener started at a breakneck pace, hitting Jofra Archer and Mark Wood for successive boundaries at the start of the innings but slowed down in the middle overs before hitting some big shots towards the end of his innings as he got out for 135 in the 18th over. Overall, he blasted 13 sixes, the highest in a T20I innings by an Indian batter.

"Probably he [mentor Yuvraj Singh] should be happy today. He's always wanted me to bat into the 15th, and 20th over, and I've tried to implement that," said Abhishek.

The 24-year-old from Amritsar, Punjab, who made his mark in IPL 2024 with some superb batting for Sunrisers Hyderabad, thanked skipper Suryakumar Yadav and head coach Gautam Gambhir for backing him.

Abhishek blazed to the second-fastest fifty in 17 balls, and the second-fastest hundred off 37 balls by an Indian batter, helping India post a massive 247/9 in 20 overs. He then came back to claim two wickets and with Mohammed Shami bagging 3-25, India bundled out England for 97 runs to win the match by 150 runs with 57 balls to spare. He nearly broke Yuvraj Singh's record for the fastest fifty off 15 balls and Rohit Sharma's record for the swiftest 100 off 35 balls.

Abhishek called his knock a special one as his mother and sister were in the Stadium watching him and credited T20I skipper Suryakumar and coach Gambhir for backing his style of play. He said he felt it was his