Too hot to handle: New Zealand inspect Abhishek Sharma’s willow after 14-ball fifty in Guwahati

Abhishek Sharma, the synonym of modern-day cricket played one of the finest knocks of his career while chasing 154 runs at Guwahati. He hammered the second fastest fifty in world cricket in just 14 balls. His 68 runs in 20 balls and helped India to win the match with 10 overs to spare. At the end of the match, the strike rate was 340, which itself was a surreal thing.

After the match, New Zealand players inspected his bat, this moment caught attention on social media feeds and went viral in minutes.

Talking about his 14-ball fifty Abhishek said, “ That's what my team wants from me and I just want to execute all the time. But obviously, it's not easy to do it every time, but I think it's all about mental as well and the atmosphere you get around your dressing room as well. That's more than impossible for anyone to break Yuvraj's fastest T20 fifty record, but still, you never know.”

He also talked about his mindset, “ It's just the instinct I get in between the wickets. I think about the bowler if he wants to get out on my first ball, then what he could bowl to me and that's always there in my mind and I just want to play on that ball.”

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In his short cricketing career, Abhishek played 36 innings and made 1267 runs with a strike rate of 195.23.

India dominated the New Zealand bowlers

Chasing the target of 154 runs, Sanju Samson went to pavillion scoring only zero runs but the carnage started after that Kishan who played a key role in the last match hammered 28 runs in 13 balls and formed a 53-run partnership in just 19 balls with the poster boy of the modern batting template, Abhishek Sharma who contributed 23 runs in just 6 balls. After Ishan Kishan’s innings, Abhishek and Surya Kumar Yadav continued the carnage to take the team to the crossing line scoring 102 runs in just 40 balls. The performance only displays that not only frontline players but India’s bench strength is also something to be afraid of.