On 12th May 2018, in the match between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Delhi Daredevils, Delhi was struggling at 120 for 4 and was projected to reach a total of around 150. At this point came an uncapped player by the name Abhishek Sharma.
He hit the first ball he faced on his debut to a graceful four over the head of the fielder. Raised the hope of becoming yet another young Indian teen sensation. Then he continued his strokeplay facing senior well-established bowlers to play a blinder of innings to post a competitive total of 181 for 4.
Here are the 10 things you need to know about the Indian teen sensation Abhishek Sharma
1. Abhishek Sharma is the son of Raj Kumar Sharma, a former group cricketer for Punjab. He was born on September 4th, 2000 and comes from Amritsar.
2. At the age of 15, Sharma led Punjab to the successful defence of Under 16 Vijay Merchant Trophy in 2016. He had played key roles in helping Punjab to be the runners-up in 2013/14 and also lifting the title in 2014/15 season. The hard-hitting batsman was the leading runs scorer in the 2015/16 Vijay Merchant Trophy scoring 1200 runs with at an outstanding average of 109.09.
3. In the Under 19 debut, Sharma scored a century for Punjab in the Vinoo Mankad Trophy.
4. In the 2016 Asia Cup, the hard-hitting all-rounder led India to victory in the tournament. He is a left-handed batsman who has the ability to hit big sixes with ease.
5. Abhishek Sharma made his first-class debut for Punjab in Ranji Trophy during the 2017/18 season on 6th October 2017. He played four matches and scored 202 runs. His best score came against Himachal Pradesh of 94 runs in the Ranji Trophy league match at Dharmashala and also done well with the ball taking 6 wickets.
6. He has represented in 10 matches of List A games and scored 158 runs with the best score of 46. As a slow left-arm orthodox spinner, Sharma has taken 5 wickets with an economy of 4.68 runs per over.
7. The young Indian teen sensation played a key role for India in 2018 Under 19 World Cup is a regular in the playing XI.
8. In the quarterfinals against Bangladesh, Abhishek Sharma came to the crease and scored a quick-fire 50 off 49 balls to help India Under 19 team post a competitive total of 265. The Indian team won that match by a massive margin of 131 runs. As a bowler, he also contributed to the team’s cause taking 6 wickets from 6 matches at a good economy of 3.91 runs per over.
9. He is 5th youngest Indian player to make an IPL debut after Sarfaraz Khan, Pradeep Sangwan, Washington Sundar, Rahul Chahar. Abhishek Sharma made his IPL debut at the age of 17 years 250 days.
10. He was bought for INR 55 Lakhs by Delhi Daredevils franchise, looking at his domestic records. However, he was given the chance to showcase his talent in only the 12th game of Delhi Daredevils in the ongoing edition. The youngster impressed with clean striking abilities many cricketing experts commented him to be a bright future for Indian Cricket and also wondered why he was warming the benches till now.