India's stutter after Abhishek Sharma's propulsion worries coach Gautam Gambhir

New Delhi: The night before the T20 International series between India and Afghanistan was to start, Raj Sharma, a former Punjab state cricketer and junior selector now more popularly known as Indian cricket team batsman Abhishek Sharma's father, was sitting outside the boundary line at the Kotla Fort end of Arun Jaitley Stadium and chatting with a couple Delhi and District Cricket Association officials and a Delhi Premier League (DPL) franchise owner.

They watched as Afghanistan players practiced at the two designated nets on the square at the Ferozeshah Kotla ground.

Just then a TV presenter walked in and asked him for an interview. The obvious question came soon after the pleasantries. There is a fight for the opening slot [between Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Abhishek and Sanju Samson]. The presenter wanted to know if he was worried.

"No, I am used to this," he said something on these lines.

A day later, his son Abhishek was walloping the Afghanistan bowlers. He made 82 that day and followed it up with a quickfire 39 in the second T20 International and then hammered the fastest-ever T20I 100 (30 balls) in a game involving Full Member nations.

Abhishek Sharma is a batsman who is on way to becoming Indian cricket's biggest superstar after Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. He has Vaibhav Sooryavanshi for competition nowadays but he is keeping himself ahead.

Coach Gautam Gambhir said more than the record, it was the impact that Sharma's innings created.

"It's not about the 100 that he scored today. I can sit here and keep talking about this 100. It's just the impact. The only thing that we talked in that dressing room is about how much impact can we create with the bat and how much impact can we create with the ball. And that has been our ideology, that has been our philosophy since the last two years. T20 cricket is not about runs or wickets," said Gambhir at the post series press conference.

The impact with Sharma's bat was huge. The left-handed batsman reached his fifty off 16 balls (5x4s, 5x6s) and by the time the powerplay ended, he was 72 off 22 balls. India scored the second highest total in powerplay in a T20 Internationals involving Full Member nations -- South Africa (102 in 2023) and England (100 in 2025) are the two other countries to have scored 100 in powerplay.

"And for both Sanju and Abhishek, I think you can easily sit here and say one got a 50 and the other one got a 100. But for me, I think the biggest positive was we got a 100 in the powerplay. That we have never done in my cricket career. So I think that was a very clear message that if you're going hard, just keep going hard. That is what the message is."

The impact died down once Sharma was out. After 100 in six overs India finished with 221 in 20 overs. They had reached 150 in 10.3 overs so the second half wasn't productive at all. India had a great opportunity to get to 300 for the first time in T20Is but they failed. Of the three nations getting to 100 in the powerplay in Full Member T20Is, India ended scoring the lowest. While South Africa made 259/4 in that 2023 match, England got to 304/2 last year.

"We still haven't reached 300. So that's probably the next target because the kind of talent we have in the dressing room, we should be doing some big things," added Gambhir.

More than Abhishek Sharma, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi's real tussle for a place in the playing XI was against Sanju Samson. The Kerala wicketkeeper-batsman was dropped after a few failures soon after returning with the Player of the Tournament Award in the World T20 this year.

"Probably the toughest decision I've taken in my coaching career is obviously leaving him out in that England series because obviously the way he's performed before that. But again, sometimes you go with players' form as well. In this series, I was very clear that if you want to go back to the combination that we had during the World Cup, you've got to get the best team playing consistently. If a team that has gone unbeaten from one World Cup to the other World Cup and has won the World Cup, I'm sure it's a done deal. Suddenly, it doesn't become a bad team after one or two series and these guys do not become bad players after two or three failures."

Gambhir said that Sooryavanshi will have to wait.

"From Vaibhav's point of view, it was again a very clear conversation that he has to wait for his opportunity. We know what kind of talent he has. We know what he can do. But again, someone who is extremely well-reputed for two years, obviously they'll always be ahead of someone who has just become part of the team. So whenever he gets that run, he will get a longer run as well. And that is what Indian cricket is all about. You want competition, you want that talent that they're facing. But that's how cricket goes. Whether you're 15-year-old or 30-year-old, you have to wait for your opportunity. You have to wait for your opportunity."

Tags : Abhishek Sharma, Gautam Gambhir, Cricket, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Sanju Samson