IND vs AFG, 3rd T20I: Team India’s dashing opener Abhishek Sharma delivered a fiery pre-match speech to rev his teammates ahead of the third T20I against Afghanistan on September 17, Thursday at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi.
Abhishek spoke in Punjabi, saying Chak de Phatte, Nap de Gilli’, encouraging his teammates to maintain the same intensity, with the help of which they secured an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-game T20I series.
“Warriors never show mercy to anyone” – Abhishek Sharma
In a video shared by the BCCI on their social media accounts, the left-handed batter was heard telling the players that they need to play like Soormas and do so ruthlessly despite it being the final T20I of the series. He stated:
“I’m going to speak in Punjabi. So, boys we are going to play like Soormas. Soorma means warriors. The way we’ve been playing this entire series, that’s exactly how we need to finish it today. Warriors never show mercy to anyone. We aren’t letting them off the hook today. Look at the crowd, we’ll have to give them full entertainment. Chak de Phatte, Nap de Gilli, Subah Jalandhar, Sham Nu Dilli.”
IND vs AFG, 3rd T20I: Abhishek Sharma blasts a 30-ball ton to leave Afghanistan dazed
The 26-year-old walked the talk after Afghanistan won the toss for the first time in the series and elected to bowl first. Abhishek and Sanju Samson got the reigning world T20I champions off to a brilliant start as they clobbered 100 off the first six overs. Abhishek had mustered his fifty off only 16 balls and the next 14 deliveries saw him complete his ton, becoming the fastest century-maker among full-member nations. The southpaw’s T20I ton is now the third-fastest overall and also the fastest by an Indian, taking over from Rohit Sharma, who had earlier scored a hundred off only 35 balls.
After Abhishek perished for 108 off 34 deliveries, India couldn’t quite muster the total they wanted as Afghanistan restricted them to 221/7 in the end. While the Afghans got off to a promising start, they suffered a horrendous collapse to be bowled out for 194 and eventually losing by 127 runs. Ravi Bishnoi and Nitish Kumar Reddy starred with three wickets each as the opposition’s innings lasted only 14.1 overs.
Abhishek was also named Player of the Series for his 229 runs in the three-game series.