Abhishek Sharma breaks world record, surpasses Australian star to create history

Abhishek Sharma etched his name in cricketing history by becoming the fastest player to reach 1,000 runs in T20 internationals for a single country — both in terms of balls faced and as the quickest Indian to achieve the milestone by matches played.

The left-handed opener accomplished the feat during the 5th T20I against Australia at the Gabba in Brisbane on Saturday, reaching the 1,000-run mark in just 528 balls. In doing so, he surpassed the previous world record held by Australia’s Tim David, who had taken 569 balls to reach the milestone while scoring 74 off 38 balls in Hobart on November 2.

Also Read: Ind vs Aus T20Is: Will Abhishek Sharma’s explosive batting spark chaos?

Before Abhishek’s record-breaking knock, India’s Suryakumar Yadav held the second-fastest mark with 573 balls, followed by New Zealand’s Finn Allen with 611 balls. On the overall T20I list, including players representing multiple nations, Tim David now ranks sixth, having required 614 balls to score 1,000 runs across matches for both Singapore and Australia.

Abhishek also came close to matching another Indian record held by Virat Kohli, who reached 1,000 T20I runs in 27 innings from 29 matches. Abhishek achieved the landmark in 28 innings, making him the fastest Indian to do so in terms of matches played.

Globally, the record for fewest matches to reach 1,000 T20I runs remains jointly held by England’s Dawid Malan and the Czech Republic’s Sabawoon Davizi, both achieving the milestone in their 24th match.

Meanwhile, Indian teammates Sanju Samson (995 runs) and Tilak Varma (991 runs) are also nearing the 1,000-run milestone, though neither featured in India’s playing XI for the fifth T20I against Australia.

Interestingly, Abhishek had some luck on his side during the historic match — he was dropped twice within his first 11 balls, including once before and once after crossing the 1,000-run mark.