Abhishek Sharma has made it a habit of mocking T20 numbers but is not ready to take up his mentor Yuvraj Singh’s challenge of smashing a half-century off 12 balls.
The opener reached his half-century of 15 balls in Wellington on Tuesday.
Yuvraj holds that 12-ball record for the fastest fifty in T20Is (among full member countries), reaching the landmark against England in Durban during the inaugural T20 World Cup in 2007.
The India opener said such feats are “not that easy” despite his sensational century against New Zealand in the third T20I at the Hnry Stadium.
Yuvraj posted a cheeky message on social media teasing Abhishek for still not breaking his T20I half-century record. “You still can’t get 50 of 12 can you @OfficialAbhi04! Looks like two left handers batting in their backyard!” the former al-rounder wrote
“I don’t know what cricket he was playing back at that time, but it’s not that easy at all,” Abhishek said during the presentation ceremony. “I would say if any batter wants to go there and bat like that, it’s not easy at all. You can’t just go and score 50 off 12 balls. It just happens once in a while.”
Abhishek said the focus, particularly for him and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, was to get the team off to a flying start.
“As a batter, we don’t go for that milestone. We always want to win the game for the team. So that was the plan, and that’s what we want to take throughout the series as well,” he said.
“I feel I pretty much manifested this innings and it happened,” Abhishek said after scoring a 35-ball century that helped India chase down a target of 199 in 13.2 overs.
He credited the coaching staff and the extensive practice with side-arm deliveries for helping him execute his natural game.
“I feel it’s not that, I wouldn’t say it’s easy, that easy, but it’s just the preparation behind the scenes. I would say a special mention to our coaches because of the side-arms… we’ve been playing them a lot,” he said.
“If you see the conditions and the dimensions, that’s always in your mind, and then you have to keep the bowlers also in your mind and play the shots accordingly. And that’s all I do.
Abhishek highlighted Sooryavanshi’s start in the opening over, saying it helped set the tone for the innings.
“The way he started the first over, Vaibhav, that was really special,” he said.