England head coach Brendon McCullum lauded Indian opener Abhishek Sharma’s knock in the final T20I in Mumbai as one of the best in T20I cricket as well. However, Abhishek smashed 135 off 54 deliveries with 13 maximums and 7 boundaries. He also became the second fastest to a T20I century off just 37 deliveries, behind only Rohit Sharma. It was his second T20I ton in only 17 outings, helping India to a massive 247/9 in 20 overs as well. And, reeling from Abhishek’s knock, England folded for a mere 97 in reply to face a record 150-run defeat.

Talking about the knock, McCullum said to the Media [quoted by India Today]: “We’ve seen so many players over the years in this format that have been able to do it – Chris Gayle, Aaron Finch, AB de Villiers – and maybe Abishek Sharma is putting his hand up as one of those players. First and foremost, the innings we saw from Abhishek is as good an innings as we’ve ever witnessed in T20 cricket.”

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“He’s not just doing it against any attack, he’s doing it against four guys who bowl 90mph and an absolute gun leg-spinner. I’m very realistic that when I see someone come out of the telephone box and play an innings like that, sometimes you throw all the different plans you want at it but if he’s hitting it like that, you really can’t stop it,” he added.

Former England captain Michael Vaughan also lauded Abhishek Sharma after his century as well.

Speaking about the young Indian opener on Cricbuzz, Vaughan said [quoted by NDTV]: “Wonderful player. I don’t think you can play any better than that. If anyone’s played a better T20 innings than that, I’ve not seen it. That was as pure and as stylish as you could possibly ever hope for.”