Abhishek Sharma walked out to open the batting in a dead rubber. But he left the ground with a majestic innings that will be remembered for ages. He hit 76 runs in the powerplay alone. But the real magic opened when Abhishek Sharma’s 30-Ball Century. He celebrated by sitting cross-legged in a meditation pose on the pitch. And by the time Rashid Khan finally got him in the tenth over, the record books had been completely rewritten.
The Number That Defines This Innings
Thirty balls. That is the number. It is all you need to say.
Abhishek Sharma scored a century off 30 balls against Afghanistan in the third T20I at Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi on September 17, 2026. His full innings read 108 off 34 balls. He hit nine fours and 11 sixes. His strike rate was 317.65. He was dismissed by Rashid Khan caught behind by Gurbaz in the tenth over. India were 142 for 1 when he departed.
The Records Abhishek Broke in 3rd T20
This innings rewrote multiple record books simultaneously. Each one is worth examining separately.
Fastest T20I century by a Full Member batter: Abhishek’s 30-ball hundred surpasses the previous Full Member benchmark of 33 balls, jointly held by Zimbabwe’s Sikandar Raza against Gambia and New Zealand’s Finn Allen against South Africa at the T20 World Cup 2026 semi-final in Kolkata. Three balls faster. Against a Test-playing nation’s international attack. In Delhi at the Arun Jaitley Stadium.
Fastest T20I century by an Indian: The previous Indian record was held by Rohit Sharma. He scored a 35-ball century against Sri Lanka in 2017. That record stood for nine years. Abhishek took it by five full deliveries.
Third-fastest T20I century in history overall: Only Estonia’s Sahil Chauhan at 27 balls against Cyprus in 2024 and Turkey’s Muhammad Fahad at 29 balls against Bulgaria in 2025 have scored faster centuries in T20I cricket. Both those innings came against Associate opposition. Abhishek’s came against Afghanistan, a full Test-playing nation with an international spin attack that includes Rashid Khan and Mujeeb ur Rahman.
Highest individual powerplay score in Men’s T20Is: He scored 76 off 22 balls in the first six overs. That is the highest individual score ever recorded in overs one to six in men’s T20I cricket history.
Most T20I powerplay sixes in a single calendar year: According to CricViz, Abhishek raised his 2026 tally to 37 sixes hit in the powerplay. Seven came in this innings alone. He broke his own previous best of 34 maximums hit in the six-over phase in 2025.
How the Innings Unfolded Ball by Ball
Abhishek started with a boundary off Fazalhaq Farooqi in the first over. He did not explode immediately. He read the first delivery and found the gap. That single boundary was deceptive.
The second over changed everything. He targeted Azmatullah Omarzai for two sixes and a four. The intent was clear. The field was set back. He had no interest in the boundary rope.
The upgrade came in the third over against Mohammad Nabi. He hit two sixes and a four in that single over to bring up his fifty off just 16 balls. The Arun Jaitley Stadium crowd realised what was happening and erupted. Nabi offered no answer. Nobody in the Afghanistan camp had an answer.
He continued attacking Mujeeb ur Rahman after that and then faced Rashid Khan himself. Rashid took the wicket eventually but Abhishek had already reached 108. He completed his century with three consecutive sixes, becoming the first Indian to complete a century in men’s international cricket by hitting three successive sixes. He then sat down in a meditation pose. The stadium applauded the most unusual century celebration in Indian cricket history.
What Samson Did at the Other End
While Abhishek was rewriting history, Sanju Samson was quietly brilliant at the other end. He contributed 34 off 25 balls before being dismissed. Their opening stand of 142 came inside 9.4 overs.
That partnership was India’s highest in the powerplay combined with pre-fall stand runs ever recorded in this format. Samson gave Abhishek the stability to attack without worrying about wickets. When Rashid dismissed Abhishek in the tenth over, India were already at 142 for 1 with ten overs remaining.
India’s Final Total and Result
India posted 221 for 7 from their 20 overs. Shreyas Iyer contributed 17 and Shivam Dube added 14 after Abhishek’s departure. Rashid took 2 for 36 and Mujeeb took 2 for 33.
Afghanistan chased 222. They could not get close. India won the third T20I by a comfortable margin and completed the series whitewash 3-0. India have now beaten Afghanistan in seven consecutive bilateral T20I meetings. Sooryavanshi also got his chance in this match as expected, getting proper game time in the dead rubber that the first two matches denied him.
The Celebration That Went Viral
When Abhishek completed his century he did not pump his fist. He did not roar. He did not point to the sky. He sat down on the pitch in a cross-legged meditation pose.
His father Rajkumar Sharma was watching from the hospitality stand. He could not stop smiling and clapping. India head coach Gautam Gambhir wore a huge smile from the dugout. The Arun Jaitley crowd gave him a standing ovation as he was dismissed. An innings that took 30 balls received more applause than most Test match performances that last five hours.
What This Innings Means for Abhishek Sharma’s Career
This innings completes a remarkable three-match series for Abhishek. He scored 82 off 32 balls in the first match. He scored 39 before Rashid dismissed him in the second. He scored 108 off 34 in the third. That is 229 runs across three innings in Delhi. At a strike rate above 250 across all three matches combined.
He is no longer a player with potential. He is a player with records. His development from promising Punjab opener to one of the most destructive powerplay batters in world cricket has been one of Indian cricket’s most exciting individual stories this year. The broader context of how India’s current generation of T20I openers is reshaping what the format allows at the top of the order is explored in our piece on the top 10 active batsmen in the world.
A Broader Record That Nobody Saw Coming
This innings exists in the context of a wider India T20I story. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi scored an 18-ball fifty in Zimbabwe earlier this series. Now Abhishek Sharma scored a 30-ball century against Afghanistan. India’s opening batting options in the T20I format have never been more explosive simultaneously.
Sooryavanshi and Abhishek batting together will be one of the most anticipated pairings in world T20I cricket from this point forward. When both are available in the same lineup, opposing bowlers will need to solve problems that have no easy answers. The story of how Sooryavanshi’s own remarkable journey brought him to this generation-defining opening position is explored in our piece on Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s stats, records and rise.
The All-Time Fastest T20I Centuries: Where Abhishek Now Sits
| Balls | Batter | Country | Opponent | Venue | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 27 | Sahil Chauhan | Estonia | Cyprus | Episkopi | 2024 |
| 29 | Muhammad Fahad | Turkey | Bulgaria | Sofia | 2025 |
| 30 | Abhishek Sharma | India | Afghanistan | Delhi | 2026 |
| 33 | Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton | Namibia | Nepal | Kirtipur | 2024 |
| 33 | Sikandar Raza | Zimbabwe | Gambia | Nairobi | 2024 |
| 33 | Finn Allen | New Zealand | South Africa | Kolkata | 2026 |
| 35 | Rohit Sharma | India | Sri Lanka | Indore | 2017 |
Conclusion
Abhishek Sharma scored a 30-ball century against Afghanistan on September 17, 2026 at Arun Jaitley Stadium. It is the fastest by any Full Member batter in T20I history. It is the fastest by any Indian in T20I history. It is the highest individual powerplay score in men’s T20I history. It broke his own record for most powerplay sixes in a calendar year. He finished on 108 off 34 with 11 sixes. He celebrated by meditating on the pitch. And he did all of it in a dead rubber that the rest of cricket world was barely watching. This is the innings that put his name in the record books permanently.
