For the third time in the ongoing IPL 2026 season, an Indian batter from the recent T20 World Cup-winning squad has smashed a century. Sanju Samson was the first, for Chennai Super Kings. Tilak Varma followed it up last night for the Mumbai Indians. And Abhishek Sharma became the third, unleashing carnage against the Delhi Capitals to bring up his second IPL century.
The left-handed opener took the first two overs to assess the conditions at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium before turning the game into his personal stage with a breathtaking display of power-hitting, dismantling the Delhi Capitals attack in ruthless fashion. Blending audacity with authority, he brought up the triple-figure mark in just 47 balls.
This was his second IPL century, having smashed his maiden ton last season against the Punjab Kings at the same venue. It was also his ninth T20 century, as he went past former India captain Rohit Sharma (eight) to equal the Indian record held by Virat Kohli. Quinton de Kock, Rilee Rossouw and Sahibzada Farhan also have nine centuries each in the format, and currently sit fourth on the all-time list behind Chris Gayle (22), Babar Azam (12) and David Warner (10).
SRH vs DC IPL 2026 Live Score
The mayhem did not stop at the century mark. He carried his bat through to carve out an unbeaten 135 off 68 balls—his second-highest score in the tournament—having previously smashed 141 during his maiden ton last season. It is also the fifth-highest individual score in IPL history, with him the only batter to feature twice on that list, and the only Indian as well.
The knock also included 10 towering sixes, taking his career tally to 354 in T20 cricket, as he went past the legendary MS Dhoni (350). That tally is currently the fifth-highest among Indian batters, behind Rohit (555), Kohli (405), Suryakumar Yadav (423) and Samson (405).
Earlier in the match, Abhishek combined with a relatively off-colour Travis Head (37 off 26) to stitch together a 97-run opening stand. Captain Ishan Kishan (25 off 13) then joined the party, adding another 79 runs for the second wicket in just 5.5 overs to create a strong launchpad for the final assault. And as the opener began to show signs of fatigue, Heinrich Klaasen took over with a blistering 37 not out off 13 balls, as Sunrisers Hyderabad set up a massive 243-run target.