Mumbai, February 2 Opener Abhishek Sharma played a brilliant innings in the last match of the T20 series against England at the Wankhede Stadium. He scored a century in just 37 balls, which is the second fastest T20 century by an Indian. Thanks to his aggressive batting, India scored 247 runs for the loss of 9 wickets.
Abhishek scored 135 runs in his 54-ball innings, which included 7 fours and 13 sixes. He also scored a half-century in just 17 balls, which is the second fastest half-century for India in T20 International. His batting pushed all the England bowlers on the backfoot.
At the beginning of the match, Sanju Samson started strongly for India, but he was dismissed early. He scored 16 runs in seven balls, which included a four and two sixes. He was dismissed by Jofra Archer.
Abhishek also hit Mark Wood and Jamie Overton fiercely. He hit two fours and a six off Wood in the fourth over, while hit consecutive sixes off the first two balls of Overton. He then completed his half-century in 17 balls.
Abhishek and Tilak Verma shared a 115-run partnership for the second wicket, with Abhishek scoring 80 and Verma 23. Verma was dismissed early, but left India in a strong position.
The pitch was expected to help the bowlers early, but the Indian batsmen scored runs without much trouble. Abhishek completed his century in 37 balls, including 5 fours and 10 sixes.
Captain Suryakumar Yadav was dismissed after scoring few runs, but Shivam Dubey supported Abhishek well. Dubey scored 30 runs in 13 balls with the help of fours and sixes. Hardik Pandya and Rinku Singh could not score many runs, but Axar Patel hit two fours in the end to take India to 247.
Brydon Carse was the most successful bowler for England, taking 3 wickets, while Mark Wood managed to take 2 wickets.
Brief scores: India 247/9 in 20 overs (Abhishek Sharma 135, Shivam Dube 30; Brydon Carse 3-38; Mark Wood 2-32).
