There was a touch of the anti-climactic to the manner in which Abhishek Sharma brought up his third Twenty20 International hundred. Twenty-nine previous deliveries had produced nine fours and 10 sixes – a whopping 96 of his 99 runs. The century came through a stately single to long-off, a rare instance of the ball not keeping its tryst with the boundary buntings or with the spectators thickly populating the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi.
As if he himself could not believe the mundane way through which he brought up a significant milestone, the 26-year-old took his time to celebrate. His routine on reaching his ton was more muted than when he brought up his first fifty, off 16 deliveries; after a while, he took off his helmet and his gloves and sat cross-kneed on the turf, striking a meditative pose that was symptomatic of how much at peace he is with his game.
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Three international hundreds after just 58 innings are a grand tribute to the Punjab opener’s unquestioned skills. His seemingly high-risk game is a perceived deterrent to consistency, but the left-hander has been anything but inconsistent. An average of 33.17 married with an extraordinary strike-rate of 194.55 – all this across 59 matches – is a deserved exposition of his wondrous skills that have been bolstered by a maturity and an understanding of his own strengths and weaknesses that comes from sweating it out in the searing cauldron of international cricket.
Watching him take the Afghanistan bowling attack apart in the national capital on Thursday night, it was hard to believe that this was the same batter who mustered just 141 runs in eight innings at the home T20 World Cup in February-March. Touted as the most influential cog in the power-packed Indian batting wheel, he began the tournament with a hat-trick of ducks, though he finished it off in style with a 21-ball half-century in the final against New Zealand. The stunning effort in the title round was quintessential as Abhishek the real deal returned to sweep the impostor aside. Reprising those heroics but going several notches better, he battered Afghanistan into submission in the final T20I, reiterating that when he finds his bearings, there is no greater destroyer of bowlers and egos, no more fiercely explosive package, in modern-day cricket.
The charm of Abhishek’s beautiful brutality lies in his uncomplicated, primarily orthodox approach. Unlike other successful practitioners of 20-over batsmanship, Abhishek is not big on the cute, the cheeky or the unconventional. He doesn’t play the scoop or the reverse willy-nilly and for the large part, he cuts a static, controlled figure at the crease who doesn’t give his hand away until after the ball has left the bowler’s hand.
With a marked penchant for the straight field, Abhishek driving down the ground – either along the turf or aerially – makes for a breathtaking picture. His backlift isn’t exaggerated, his follow-through anything but pronounced, and his power is couched in graceful timing. Nestled in that lithe frame is a fearsome striker of the hapless cricket ball, but Abhishek unfurls his strokes with such elegance and panache that not even the battered ball will have half a mind to complain.
The power play is Abhishek’s oyster; emboldened by the fact that there are only two men patrolling the boundary and by the knowledge that he can clear any ground in the world if he makes slightly more than half-decent contact. Abhishek is unafraid to hit in the air. Because his basics are remarkably strong and because he swaps crude hoicks for high-percentage cricket shots, he is able to execute his intent with perfection for the most part. He is the ideal exemplar of the T20 batter of this era – fearless and intrepid, full of self-belief that can so easily be construed as bluster or bravado if not for his unparalleled consistency, striking repeatedly at nearly two runs a ball – but he is also the unforgiving yardstick that those who are measured against are guaranteed to fall woefully short.
Abhishek has no great preferences – he takes as much shine to spin as he does to fast bowling, the off-side is as much a fertile scoring area as the leg-side is, and neither front nor back foot pose questions to which he has no answers – beyond the reality that he can play with authority on both sides of the wicket against all-comers without having to shift gears. His floundering World Cup campaign was one of those things that can happen. But since then, Abhishek has embarked on a sparkling run that has culminated in scores of 82, 39 and 108 against Ibrahim Zadran’s beleaguered colleagues.
Abhishek’s 30-ball hundred is the fastest by a batter from the Full Member nations, a footnote almost given that his batting can’t be evaluated merely through numbers. He is at once the present and the future, a magnificent luxury for Indian cricket ahead of gruelling assignments segueing into the 50-over World Cup in southern Africa in 13 months’ time.