Abhishek Sharma: The Killer Southpaw on the Rampage Against New Zealand
Ten overs into a chase of 199 in Wellington on October 27, India were 178 for 2. Abhishek Sharma had 113 of those runs, off 38 balls. The fifty took 15 balls, and the hundred took 35. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, batting with him, made 44 off 17 in the Powerplay, and between them they scored 118 without loss in six overs, a T20 international record. Vaibhav then got out to Matthew Fisher.
Vaibhav is 15. He scored 776 runs in 16 innings in IPL 2026 and was named the tournament’s most valuable player. It is hard to watch him bat and not get a little giddy. So far, though, he has had only good days, which is lovely and not much of a test.
Look Who's Talking Regime Change
23 Oct 2026 - Vol 05 | Issue 43
Abhishek has had the other kind. He made a duck on debut in July 2024 and a hundred in his second match, and that looked like the end of the argument. It was not. By the start of 2025, he had 256 runs in 11 innings at an average of 23, and the former India cricketer Aakash Chopra described his place as “hanging by a thin thread”.
Anyone who has played cricket knows the feeling. The more you need runs, the more you want to hit your way out of trouble, and the quicker the next ball finds you out. Abhishek, however, stuck to his game. He made 135 off 54 balls against England in February 2025. By the end of that year, he was number one in the T20 international rankings, the youngest Indian to get there. When New Zealand bowled at his pads in Guwahati in January to cramp him, he hit a 14-ball fifty anyway. In the World Cup final at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, he made 52 in a total of 255 for 5.
The selectors have had no reason to hurry Vaibhav, and Abhishek has given them no reason to look elsewhere. Chopra said in May that Vaibhav Sooryavanshi should not be rushed. In September, head coach Gautam Gambhir said he would wait behind Abhishek and Sanju Samson. For a 15-year-old, that sounds about right.
Tuesday’s scorecard reads 44 for Vaibhav and 113 for Abhishek, but talent is not what separates them. The difference is the stretch when Abhishek’s place was in question, and he kept batting the same way. Vaibhav’s version of that is coming, as it does for every opener.