Abhishek blitzkrieg blows away England in series finale

Abhishek Sharma's record-breaking blitzkrieg leads India to a crushing T20I victory over England at Wankhede Stadium.

The series in the bag. A boisterous crowd at the Wankhede Stadium was behind the home team. It perhaps resulted in a fitting trigger for Abhishek Sharma who single-handedly blew England away with a blitzkrieg that shattered a plethora of records and set up a crushing win to help India end the T20I season on a perfect note.

Riding on Abhishek’s 135 (54b, 7x4, 13x6), India’s highest individual score in T20Is, the Men in Blue piled on 247 for nine in 20 overs after being sent in to bat. As it happens most often while chasing gargantuan targets, England wilted under pressure to be bowled out for a paltry 97 in the 11th over to hand India a 150-run win. The victory meant Suryakumar Yadav laid his hands on the trophy, with the series ending 4-1 in the host’s favour.

It was an Abhishek show all through the first half after he and Sanju Samson walked out to open the innings. While Samson set the tone by clearing deep square-leg off the first ball of the match, Abhishek — by his standards — took his time. Soon after Samson holed out to to the deep square-leg fielder for the fifth straight time, he charged down the wicket for his first boundary in the third over.

Onslaught

From that point till he perished towards the end of the innings, Abhishek’s onslaught made England fielders remain mere spectators.

When he hit it through the gap, it sped to the fence. But more often than not, he was in a mood to display his range-hitting skills. He managed to clear the rope a whopping 13 times – the most by an Indian in a T20I – four of them coming in the fifth over off Jamie Overton.

That over meant India raced to 95 for 1 in the PowerPlay, its highest in the first six-over period of a T20I. Abhishek blew a kiss as he celebrated his 17-ball fifty.