Abhishek Sharma (cricketer, born 2000)

Not to be confused with Abhishek Sharma (cricketer, born 1985).

Abhishek Sharma

Personal information
Born	(2000-09-04) 4 September 2000 (age 24) Amritsar, Punjab, India
Nickname	The crowd-puller,[1] Laddu[2]
Height	5 ft 7 in (170 cm)[3]
Batting	Left-handed
Bowling	Slow left-arm orthodox
Role	Batting-all rounder
International information
National side	India (2024–present)
T20I debut (cap 111)	6 July 2024 v Zimbabwe
Last T20I	7 July 2024 v Zimbabwe
T20I shirt no.	4
Domestic team information
Years	Team
2017/18–present	Punjab
2018	Delhi Daredevils (squad no. 4)
2019–present	Sunrisers Hyderabad (squad no. 18)
Career statistics
Competition FC LA T20 T20I Matches 24 53 109 5 Runs scored 1,071 1,547 2,795 124 Batting average 30.6 31.5 30.05 31 100s/50s 1/5 3/5 4/16 1/0 Top score 100 169* 112 100 Balls bowled 1,674 1,374 792 78 Wickets 20 29 34 2 Bowling average 49.1 36.8 28.3 58 5 wickets in innings 0 0 0 0 10 wickets in match 0 0 0 0 Best bowling 4/136 3/17 3/7 1/20 Catches/stumpings 21/0 24/0 33/0 2/0
Source: ESPNcricinfo, 8 July 2024

Abhishek Sharma (born 4 September 2000) is an Indian international cricketer who debuted for Indian national cricket team against Zimbabwe in July 2024.^[4] In the second match, he hit a maiden century.^[5] His role is as an opening batter and a spinner. He plays for Punjab in domestic cricket and Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League (IPL).^[6] Sharma was the member of the 2018 Under-19 Cricket World Cup that won the junior world cup.

Early life and background

Abhishek Sharma was born on 4 September 2000 in Amritsar, Punjab to father Raj Kumar Sharma and mother Manju Sharma. Sharma is the youngest of three, with two elder sisters Komal and Sonia.^[3] He completed his schooling at Delhi Public School.^[3]

Sharma is a childhood friend of Shubman Gill, and they used to open the innings for Punjab in the Under-14s.^[7] Yuvraj Singh played a role in coaching Sharma during the COVID-19 lockdown period.^[8]

Domestic career

Under-16 domestic

Sharma scored a century in his maiden match in the Under-16 domestic cricket tournament for the 2015–16 Vijay Merchant Trophy. He scored 1,200 runs that tournament at an average of 109.09.^{[9] [10]}

Under-19 domestic

Sharma made his Under-19 debut for Punjab in the Vinoo Mankad Trophy in 2016-17. ^[11]

First-class

He made his debut in first-class cricket for Punjab in the 2017–18 Ranji Trophy on 6 October 2017.^[12] He led Punjab to their maiden Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy win in the 2023-24 season finishing as the second-highest run scorer of the tournament with 485 runs from ten innings at an average of 48.50 and a strike rate of 192.46, registering two hundreds and three fifties. ^[13]

List A cricket

Sharma played in the 2018–19 Vijay Hazare Trophy for Punjab.^[14] On 28 February 2021, playing for Punjab against Madhya Pradesh, he scored the fastest hundred by an Indian in List A cricket, in 42 balls.^[15]

IPL career

2018: Delhi Daredevils

In January 2018, he was bought by Delhi Daredevils in the 2018 IPL auction for Rs 5.5 million.^[16][17][18] On 12 May 2018, he made his debut and went on to score 46 runs off 19 balls.^[19]

2019-present: Sunrisers Hyderabad

In February 2022, he was bought by Sunrisers Hyderabad in the auction for the 2022 tournament.^[20][21] During the tournament, he played 14 matches and scored 426 runs.^[22] In IPL 2024, he scored the fastest fifty for Sunrisers Hyderabad against Mumbai Indians on 27 March 2024 at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium,^[23]. He finished the season with 484 runs in 16 matches, with a strike rate of around 200, and 42 sixes in the tournament. He was the second highest run-scorer for Sunrisers Hyderabad that season, after Travis Head.^[24] The Sunrisers eventually went on to the finals, where they lost to the Kolkata Knight Riders.

International career

Under-19 international

• Sharma led the India Under-19 team as captain for the 2016 ACC Under-19 Asia Cup in Sri Lanka. ^[25]
• Sharma led the Indian Under-19 team in a 2017 home Youth ODI series against England, India won 3-1.
• He participated in all of India's matches during the 2018 U19 Cricket World Cup and scored 50 runs against Bangladesh in the quarterfinal.^[26]

T20 international

During the 2024 Zimbabwe series, Sharma made his debut on 6 July in the first match against Zimbabwe. He scored his maiden T20I century in the second match against Zimbabwe at the Harare Sports Club on 7 July.^[27][28] With his first international century, Sharma became the first Indian batsman to score a ton in the least number of innings.^[29]

T20I centuries

Runs	Against	S/R	Venue	H/A/N	Date	Result
100	Zimbabwe	212.76	Harare Sports Club, Harare, Zimbabwe	Away	7 July 2024	Won

Awards and recognitions

• Raj Singh Dungarpur award for being the highest scorer in the Vijay Merchant Trophy (2015-2016),^[30] and for being the highest wicket-taker in the same tournament with 57 wickets.

References

1. "Secret behind Abhishek Sharma's success". indianexpress. 27 May 2024. Retrieved 8 July 2024.
2. "Abhishek Sharma mentions his nickname". Instagram. Retrieved 19 July 2024.
3. "Abhishek Sharma Cricketer". Crictoday. 8 July 2024. Retrieved 8 July 2024.
4. "Abhishek Sharma, Dhruv Jurel, Riyan Parag make T20I debuts for India". India Today.
5. Raj, Pratyush (7 July 2024). "Abhishek Sharma's father: After 1st match, I reminded him six-hitting was what led to India call-up". The Indian Express. Retrieved 8 July 2024.
6. "Abhishek Sharma". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 26 February 2017.
7. "Abhishek Sharma after 1st T20I Match". indianexpress. 8 July 2024. Retrieved 8 July 2024.
8. "Behind Abhishek Sharma's Rise". news18. 8 July 2024. Retrieved 8 July 2024.
9. "Career & Stats". CREX. Retrieved 8 July 2024.
10. "Vijay Merchant Trophy 2015/16". acscricket. Retrieved 8 July 2024.
11. "How the India U19 World Cup stars fared at IPL 2018". International Cricket Council. 28 May 2018. Retrieved 28 May 2018.
12. "Group D, Ranji Trophy at Dharamsala, Oct 6-9 2017". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 6 October 2017.
13. "second highest run scorer of the tournament". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 9 July 2024.
14. "Abhishek Sharma - Profile". Cricbuzz. Retrieved 8 July 2024.
15. "The ACS – The ACS". Retrieved 30 September 2022.
16. "IPL Auction 2018 - Abhishek Sharma| Cricbuzz.com". Cricbuzz. Retrieved 12 May 2018.
17. "List of sold and unsold players". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 27 January 2018.
18. "U19 World Cup stars snapped up in IPL auction". International Cricket Council. Retrieved 28 January 2018.
19. "45th match (N), Indian Premier League at Delhi, May 12, 2018". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 12 May 2018.
20. "IPL 2022 auction: The list of sold and unsold players". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 13 February 2022.
21. Jha, Yash (24 March 2022). "The uncapped ones: Shahrukh Khan, Umran Malik and more". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 25 March 2022.
22. "Mens Team. IPLT20". www.iplt20.com. Retrieved 7 May 2023.
23. "Mens Team. IPLT20". SportsTiger. Retrieved 28 March 2024.
24. "IPL 2024 Orange Cap: Abhishek Sharma breaks into Top 5 after SRH vs CSK match". The Indian Express. 5 April 2024. Retrieved 23 July 2024.
25. "All-rounder Abhishek Sharma to lead India U-19". Board of Control for Cricket in India. Retrieved 8 July 2024.
26. "Abhishek Sharma's 50 against Bangladesh at U19CWC". International Cricket Council. Retrieved 8 November 2023.
27. Singh, Vaidehi (7 July 2024). "WATCH: Abhishek Sharma brings in maiden T20I century with hat-trick of sixes in 2nd T20I vs Zimbabwe". SportsTiger. Retrieved 7 July 2024.
28. "ZIM vs IND 2024". SportsTiger. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
29. "Multiple records broken". Sports. NDTV. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
30. "Raj Singh Dungarpur award". Retrieved 8 July 2024.

External links

• Abhishek Sharma at ESPNcricinfo
• Abhishek Sharma at IMDb
• Abhishek Sharma on Facebook