The ball flew over long-on like it had a grudge against gravity. Abhishek Sharma stood there at Eden Gardens, 24-year-old and playing like he owned the place. England had no answers. Nobody did.
Knock that changed everything
22 January 2025. Kolkata. England posted 133, a score that felt somewhat competitive for about ten minutes. Then Abhishek happened. 79 runs. 34 balls. Five fours, eight sixes. The chase finished with 43 balls to spare.
The match turned in the fifth over. Archer had just struck twice. The stadium held its breath. Then Abhishek got dropped by Adil Rashid on 29. Four balls later, he reached fifty. That drop cost England everything.
Jofra Archer tried. He really did. Took out Sanju Samson and Suryakumar Yadav in one over. Best England bowler on show with two for 21. But all other bowlers suffered from the hands of Abhishek. Gus Atkinson? Poor bloke went for 38 in just 2 overs. Experienced Adil Rashid? Went for 27 runs in his 2 overs.
From inconsistent prodigy to World No. 1
Here is the thing about Abhishek before this knock. He’d been maddeningly inconsistent. Eight times in his first twelve T20I innings, he got out for under 20. Electric one day, gone the next. India has more top-order batters than spots. Pressure builds fast when you are 24 and everyone wants your place.
But something clicked at Eden Gardens. Ten days later at Wankhede, he did it again. 135 runs off 54 balls. Thirteen sixes, a new record. Same fearless batting. Same damage.
The numbers tell their own story now. 859 runs in 2025. Average of 42.95. Strike rate of 193.46. World number one in T20Is. That’s not hot and cold anymore. That is just fire.
Freedom to fail
Abhishek says his captains and coaches keep telling him one thing: don’t change. Don’t play safe. Don’t become someone else. That rare in Indian cricket where playing it safe often feels like the safest job security.
They gave him permission to fail his way. That’s why he could get out cheaply eight times and still back himself the ninth time. When you are told your style is your strength, not your risk, you stop worrying about keeping your place. You just play.
Starts 2026 with a bang but challenges ahead
Come the New Zealand series, the first of a brand new calendar year and Abhishek has started with a bang. A blistering 35-ball 84 studded with five fours and eight sixes in Nagpur. He has four more matches in this series. Then the T20 World Cup. Teams will plan for him now. They will study his trigger movements, his favourite hitting zones, his weakness against pace or spin. That is what being number one brings you. Extra attention. Extra pressure.
But if Eden Gardens showed anything, it is that Abhishek does not seem to feel pressure the way others do. He feels freedom. England’s bowlers found that out the hard way. They set fields, they changed plans, they tried everything.
The ball kept disappearing anyway.
The Amritsar swing: Why safety was never an option
Behind those monster sixes is a kid from Amritsar who was told to never change. In a system that sometimes rewards conformity, that’s a gift. His father must have watched those innings, seeing his son swing freely while others might have nudged and pushed for safety.
That drop by Rashid could have been a turning point for the worse. For a different player, it might have triggered doubt. Am I meant to be here? Should I be careful now? Abhishek just hit the next ball for six. Then the next. Then the next.
That is the human story here. Not just the records or the rankings. It’s about a young player who was trusted to be himself. And who repaid that trust by becoming the best in the world.
India will hope he carries this into 2026. They will hope he keeps swinging. They’ll hope he remembers what got him here. Not caution. Not calculation. Just that clean, fearless swing that makes cricket look so simple.
Sometimes it is that simple, really. See ball, hit ball. Abhishek Sharma is making it look that way.