India opener Abhishek Sharma proved he is still one of the most dangerous batters in T20 cricket as he smashed a world record century against Afghanistan in New Delhi on Thursday.
Abhishek hit a 30-ball century in the third match of the T20 series, with world champions India already ahead 2-0. It was the fastest T20 International century by a full-member player and the third fastest in history.
The quickest T20 International ton was scored by Estonia batter Sahil Chauhan – off 27 balls – against Cyprus, while Turkey's Muhammad Fahad hit a 29-ball century against Bulgaria.
Before Abhishek, Rohit Sharma held the record for the fastest T20 ton by an Indian – off 35 balls against Sri Lanka in 2017.
Abhishek cracked nine fours and 11 sixes in his knock of 108 from 34 balls, adding 142 for the opening wicket with Sanju Samson inside 10 overs.
Samson was largely a spectator as Abhishek went on the attack from the start, taking the team to 100 at the end of six overs.
He was out trying to cut a wide delivery from spinner Rashid Khan, edging behind to keeper Rahmanullah Gurbaz.
Samson then took over and reached his fifty at the other end, off a much more tranquil 34 deliveries.
The whirlwind innings took some of the focus away from the Indian team's decision to continue to bench teenage batting sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi.
The 15-year-old opening batter was expected to be given an opportunity in the dead rubber, especially since he was the player of the series in the previous series in Zimbabwe. But India continued with their first-choice combination.
India's next T20 assignments are against the West Indies and the Asian Games in Japan.
