Abhishek Sharma’s slow century inningsImage Credit source: PTI
Whenever Abhishek Sharma swings his bat, his batting is worth watching. In the last 3 to 4 years in T20 cricket, Abhishek has created a stir with his explosive batting and has made the life of the bowlers difficult. Especially any half-century or century innings that came from his bat has often come at a stormy pace. But in IPL 2026, Abhishek scored a century against Delhi Capitals, which proved to be the slowest in his career.
Against Delhi Capitals on Tuesday 21st April in Hyderabad Coronation Amazing batting was witnessed. Abhishek, who has already played 2-3 stormy innings this season, not only scored a half-century this time but also managed to convert it into a century. In his innings, Abhishek completed his half-century in 25 balls and then also completed the second century of his IPL career on the 47th ball.
How many runs in how many balls?
This was the 9th century of left-handed star opener Abhishek’s T20 career. But the most important thing was that this time Abhishek lasted for the entire 20 overs. He scored 135 runs in 68 balls in his innings, in which 10 fours and 10 sixes came from his bat. That means he scored 100 runs only by hitting fours and sixes. This was the first time in Abhishek’s career, when he came out to open and returned unbeaten after completing 20 overs.
But while Abhishek’s innings was tremendous, it was a very slow innings as per his batting standards and career record. He scored runs in this innings at a strike rate of 198.52. This is only the second time in his career, when even after scoring a century, his strike rate remained less than 200. After completing his century, he scored only 33 runs in his next 21 balls, while the last over was going on.
Slowest century after playing 20 overs
Out of the 9 centuries that Abhishek has scored, 7 times the strike rate of his innings was 200 or more. His slowest century came in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy in 2021, when he scored 107 runs at a strike rate of 172.58. But this proved to be his slowest innings in terms of century after playing full 20 overs. As far as his fastest century is concerned, it came in the Mushtaq Ali Trophy only, when Abhishek scored 106 runs in just 29 balls. In this his strike rate was 365.51.
