- Abhishek Sharma surpasses Virat Kohli’s total for most T20 centuries by an Indian cricketer. Abhishek Sharma scored a 38-ball 113 against New Zealand in Wellington to claim his 11th T20 century, surpassing Virat Kohli’s total of 10.
- Abhishek Sharma (Source: BCCI/X) Abhishek Sharma became the Indian batsman with the most T20 centuries on October 4, 2026, surpassing Virat Kohli’s total in the third T20I against New Zealand in Wellington.
- The southpaw smashed a 38-ball 113, hitting nine fours and 11 sixes at a strike rate of 297.37, picking up his 11th T20 hundred and moving one run away from Kohli’s mark of 10.
Abhishek Sharma surpasses Virat Kohli’s total for most T20 centuries by an Indian cricketer. Abhishek Sharma scored a 38-ball 113 against New Zealand in Wellington to claim his 11th T20 century, surpassing Virat Kohli’s total of 10.
Abhishek Sharma (Source: BCCI/X) Abhishek Sharma became the Indian batsman with the most T20 centuries on October 4, 2026, surpassing Virat Kohli’s total in the third T20I against New Zealand in Wellington. The southpaw smashed a 38-ball 113, hitting nine fours and 11 sixes at a strike rate of 297.37, picking up his 11th T20 hundred and moving one run away from Kohli’s mark of 10. With 11 T20 centuries to his credit, Abhishek now stands third on the all-time list across all T20 cricket formats.
Only West Indian batsman Chris Gayle with 22 T20 centuries and Pakistan’s Babar Azam with 13 centuries are ahead of him at world level. Notably, in the T20 Internationals, Abhishek’s century in Wellington was his fourth, making him second in T20I history. He is level with Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav and England’s Phil Salt on four T20I hundreds.
Australian all-rounder Glenn Maxwell tops this list with five T20I centuries. What does Abhishek Sharma’s overall T20I record look like after this innings? In 70 T20Is and 69 innings, Abhishek has scored 2240 runs at an average of 33.43 and a strike rate of 196.83.
During this period he scored four centuries and 14 fifties, with the highest score being 135. In the current calendar year alone, he has played 37 T20Is and scored 1,125 runs at an average of 31.25 and a strike rate of 206.42, including two centuries and eight fifties. His best score that year was 113, which he achieved in Wellington.
The Wellington innings also marked the seventh time that Abhishek hit ten or more sixes in a single T20I innings. Only Chris Gayle has done it more often, 18 times. Notably, among T20I batters, Abhishek has now done it three times compared to Gayle’s two, while Austria’s Karanbir Singh has done it five times in all T20 internationals.
The attack also made Abhishek the third Indian to hit 150 sixes in T20Is. He currently stands at 158 sixes, behind Suryakumar Yadav’s 179 and Rohit Sharma’s 205. As a special honorable mention, Abhishek is just 40 runs away from breaking Suryakumar’s record of 1,164 T20I runs in a calendar year by an Indian set in 2022.
How did the third T20I against New Zealand in Wellington go? India won the toss and elected to bowl first. New Zealand opener Tim Seifert was out for just two runs, but a second wicket stand of 86 between Finn Allen and Daryl Mitchell steadied the home side.
Allen made 40 from 25 balls with five fours before departing, while Glenn Phillips contributed just 17 from 14 balls despite scoring consecutive fifties in the series. Mitchell remained unbeaten with 89 off 52 balls, hitting five fours and five sixes, and Bevon Jacobs added an unbeaten 39 off 23 balls with four boundaries and a six. New Zealand finished the game at 198 for 3 in 20 overs.
Arshdeep Singh, Axar Patel and Nitish Kumar Reddy claimed one wicket each. In response, Abhishek and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi launched an aggressive opening stand that took India to 133 in just seven overs. Sooryavanshi contributed 45 off 19 balls, hitting four boundaries and four sixes.
The tourists eventually got home with six wickets on the bench in 13.2 overs.
