Sunrisers Hyderabad’s (SRH) young opener, Abhishek Sharma has carved his name in the IPL record books on Saturday for scoring the highest ever individual score by an Indian in the history of the tournament. Born on September 4, 2000, in Amritsar, Punjab, Sharma has rapidly climbed the rankings of Indian cricket. He has shown his talent both on the domestic and international front.

Abhishek Sharma’s Career Graph

Sharma’s cricketing career embarked at a very young age under the mentorship of his father, Raj Kumar Sharma, who had a sports background. He made headlines by leading India’s Under-19 team to victory in the 2016 ACC Under -19 Asia Cup. He also played a major role in the ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup 2018 winning squad. He made his debut in the Indian Premier League (IPL) with Delhi Daredevils in 2018,, and he later joined Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) where he continued to perform on the top order.

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Abhishek Sharma’s historic knock

Sharma was at his best form against Punjab Kings (PBKS) when he scored a stunning 141 runs in just 55 balls, including 10 sixes and 14 fours. His innings came at an incredible strike rate of 256.36, which helped SRH in chasing a huge run of 246. With his stellar performance, Abhishek surpassed KL Rahul’s 132 record in IPL 2020 and became the highest-scoring Indian in IPL history.

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His 141 is now the third-highest overall score in IPL, trailing only Chris Gayle’s iconic 175  and Brendon McCullum’s 158. Remarkably, 116 runs of his came from the boundaries and broke the earlier SRH record held by Jonny Bairstow (90). He also hit 10 sixes, which is the most by an SRH batsman in a single inning, exceeding David Warner’s record of eight.

PBKS chose to bat first and scored a total of 245/6, in which Shreyas Iyer smashed 82 off 36 balls and Marcus Stoinis made 34 off 11. However, SRH gave back a thunderous fight back by an opening stand of 171 runs between Abhishek and Travis Head. With the contribution of Heinrich Klaasen and Ishan Kishan at the end, SRH chased down the total with ease.

This chase has been recorded as the second-highest successful run chase in the history of the IPL. With this victory, SRH has gone up to the eighth slot on the point table.

(With inputs from PTI)