Abhishek Sharma has 50 sixes already in 2024; can he cross the 100-mark by year-end in 19 more T20 games?

The Punjab and SRH batsman attempted a six on debut in that region but holed out for a duck. He went straightaway for another maximum and connected it in the first over in the second T20I. Batting with Travis Head in the IPL this year, Abhishek had not experienced a block in slam-bang batting, finishing with a strike rate above 200 throughout the season.

But the Zimbabweans and Harare pitch briefly forced Abhishek to operate in slow gears before accelerating spectacularly. The left-hander was on 27 off 23 deliveries before being dropped. The payback was hard as he cracked 72 off the next 23 balls (strike rate: 303). While he is the fastest Indian (in terms of innings) to get to a T20I hundred, Abhishek’s abilities to accelerate the pace of his knock and the six-hitting capacity stood out.

Two seasons of consistent runs and sixes across T20s – in the IPL and Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy – have marked his exponential rise. Despite the presence of Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal in the T20I set-up, it would be difficult not to back and carry the abilities of Abhishek in the top order moving forward.

Has he hit world-beating standards? He’s halfway there.

Taking on the world with sixes

Since 2023, only four top order (1-3) batters – Will Jacks, Jos Buttler, Phil Salt and Rahmanullah Gurbaz – have smashed over 100 sixes in all T20s. Abhishek is sixth (93) on the charts and the highest among all Indians save Suryakumar Yadav (99), who generally bats lower in the order.

However, the rate of Abhishek’s six-hitting and comparatively fewer innings trumps all the leading top-order batters in the period. Abhishek has hit a maximum every 7.33 deliveries with the highest strike rate (185.77) among all 50 top-order bats who have amassed at least 1000 runs in this period.

The six-hitting rates are only soaring this year, with Abhishek smashing 50 sixes in 19 innings so far, 41 as an opener and 9 in two innings at no. 3 for Sunrisers Hyderabad. Interestingly, he has hit more sixes (50) than fours (44) thus far this year, with the maximums contributing over 50 percent (300 of 594) of his total runs.

Abhishek is only a few strokes away from breaking the Indian top order record for most T20 sixes in a calendar year, currently held by Jaiswal, who slammed 57 in a breakthrough 2023 season.

The overall Indian T20 record is up at 85 with Suryakumar Yadav, who achieved the feat in 2022.

The Gayle phenom

Having stormed to the half-century mark in a flash, the bigger question now would be whether Abhishek can climb to Mt. 100, a landmark dominated by Chris Gayle.

Gayle, T20 cricket’s batting colossus, continues to represent all leading ‘sixes’ records in the format. Hitting 1000-plus T20 sixes takes some hustle every year. Between 2011-2017, the Jamaican duly smashed 100-plus maximums in all but one calendar year.

Gayle’s otherworldly 2015 season bore an eye-popping 135 sixes from only 36 innings. He scored 1665 runs that year, 1302 (78.19 per cent) of which came from boundaries with a six every 7.49 deliveries. Andre Russell is the only other batter to hit 100 sixes in a calendar year, achieving the feat in 2019.

The seven years from 2011 to 2017 contributed to 685 of Gayle’s 1065 sixes, highlighting the sheer longevity and range of the former West Indies opener’s elite power-hitting.

Can Abhishek catch up?

Crossing Gayle’s 135 will be a miraculous achievement even by the standards of increasing T20 leagues today. However, West Indies’ Nicholas Pooran and South Africa’s Heinrich Klaasen threaten to catch up this year, having already slammed 97 and 89 sixes respectively.

Abhishek’s progress over the remainder of the year will be intriguing for no other opener/top-order batter has threatened (except Brendon McCullum with 94 in 2017) to touch 100 sixes a year.

With India slated to play 12 more T20Is and Abhishek likely to be part of Punjab’s Syed Mushtaq Ali 2024-25 Trophy campaign, the southpaw could end up having a hoard of at least 19 matches to tick off a whopping batting benchmark before New Year ‘25.