Abhishek Sharma logged his 2,000th run in T20 International cricket on Sunday off fewer deliveries than any batter had managed before him, establishing a new balls-faced benchmark for reaching that milestone. During the third T20I against West Indies at Indore, the left-handed opener surpassed a T20I batting record that Suryakumar Yadav — who previously captained the Indian side in that format — had held until that point.

Abhishek reached the mark across 1,024 deliveries, arriving at the milestone 140 balls fewer than the 1,164-ball total at which Suryakumar had previously set the benchmark.

Heading into the third T20I against the West Indies, the 26-year-old adopted an attacking approach from the outset. He drove and pulled the ball to the boundary on multiple occasions, threading gaps through both the pace attack and the spin options West Indies brought to bear. Batting for Punjab, he reached a half-century off just 18 deliveries before finishing with 69 runs from 30 balls, a knock that included six boundaries and five maximums.

With the side already reduced to two early losses, Abhishek steadied the innings sufficiently to carry India to a total of 223. Bowling with greater discipline than they had shown in the prior fixture — where a 250-run target had slipped through their grasp — the home side restricted the West Indies batting lineup to secure a 14-run win.

Of the four batters to reach 2,000 T20I runs in the fewest deliveries faced, Abhishek Sharma leads the table having required only 1,024 balls — a career strike rate of 188.77 — while Suryakumar Yadav follows at 1,164 balls (162.94), with Aaron Finch's 1,283-ball tally (142.53) and Glenn Maxwell's 1,304-ball mark (155.26) rounding out the group behind him.

Across the 2026 calendar alone, the left-handed opener has compiled a T20I run tally surpassing 900 at a scoring rate above 200 per hundred balls, drawing level with Suryakumar Yadav on the all-time Indian record for sixes struck within a single year. His half-century from 18 balls at the Indore ground pushed his running count of T20I fifties delivered inside Powerplay overs to seven — a figure that no other batter throughout international cricket history has recorded on more than two occasions.

Abhishek is named in the squad for the closing pair of T20 matches against the West Indies. Hyderabad hosts the fourth T20I on 14 October, with Bengaluru lined up to stage the fifth and concluding match of the series. Following the West Indies fixtures, India's T20I squad is scheduled to travel to New Zealand for a five-game series, with the opening match set for 22 October.