Abhishek Sharma (cricketer, born 2000)

Abhishek Sharma (born 4 September 2000) is an Indian international cricketer who plays for Punjab in domestic cricket and Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League. He made his List A debut for Punjab in the 2016–17 Vijay Hazare Trophy on 25 February 2017. He made his first-class debut for Punjab in the 2017–18 Ranji Trophy on 6 October 2017.

In December 2017, he was named in India's squad for the 2018 Under-19 Cricket World Cup which was held in New Zealand. In July 2024, he was selected in India's squad for T20 series against Zimbabwe. He made his debut for India in the first match of the series. In the second T20I, he smashed his maiden century.

Early life and background
Abhishek Sharma was born on 4 September 2000 in Amritsar, Punjab to father Raj Kumar Sharma and mother Manju Sharma. Abhishek is the youngest among three siblings including sisters Komal and Sonia. He completed his schooling at Delhi Public School in Delhi.

Sharma is also a childhood friend of Shubman Gill. The duo used to open the innings for Punjab during Under-14 days. Yuvraj Singh has played a key role in mentoring him during the COVID-19 lockdown period. Sharma used to stay with Yuvraj at his place and used to have training sessions with him.

Under-16 domestic
Sharma scored a century on his maiden match in the 2015–16 Vijay Merchant Trophy, which is an Under-16 domestic cricket tournament and scored a total of 1,200 runs at an average of 109.09.

Under-19 domestic
Sharma made his Under-19 debut for Punjab in the Vinoo Mankad Trophy in 2016-17.

First-class
He made his debut in first-class cricket for Punjab in the 2017–18 Ranji Trophy on 6 October 2017. He led Punjab to their maiden Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy win in the 2023-24 season finishing as the second-highest run scorer of the tournament with 485 runs to his name from ten innings at an average of 48.50 and a strike rate of 192.46, registering two hundreds and three fifties.

List A cricket
Sharma played in the 2018–19 Vijay Hazare Trophy for Punjab. On 28 February 2021, playing for Punjab against Madhya Pradesh, he scored the fastest hundred by an Indian in List A cricket, in 42 balls.

2018-2021: Delhi Daredevils
In January 2018, he was bought by Delhi Daredevils in the 2018 IPL auction for Rs 5.5 million. On 12 May 2018, he made his debut and went on to score 46 runs off just 19 balls.

2022-present: Sunrisers Hyderabad
In February 2022, he was bought by Sunrisers Hyderabad in the auction for the 2022 tournament. During the tournament, he played 14 matches and scored 426 runs. In IPL 2024, he scored the fastest fifty for Sunrisers Hyderabad against Mumbai Indians on 27 March 2024 at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium,. and finished the season, having scored 484 runs in 16 matches with an impressive strike rate of around 200, with 42 sixes in the tournament. He was the second highest run-scorer for Sunrisers Hyderabad after Travis Head in the season.

Under-19 international

 * Sharma led the India Under-19 team as captain for the 2016 ACC Under-19 Asia Cup, held at Sri Lanka.
 * Additionally, Sharma led the Indian Under-19 team in a 2017 home Youth ODI series against England, India won 3-1.
 * He participated in all of India's matches during the 2018 U19 Cricket World Cup and scored an important 50 runs against Bangladesh in the quarterfinal.

T20 international
During the 2024 Zimbabwe series, Sharma made his debut on 6 July in the first T20I against Zimbabwe. He scored his maiden T20I century in the second match against Zimbabwe at the Harare Sports Club on 7 July. With his first international century, Abhishek Sharma has become first Indian batter to score a ton in the least number of innings.

Awards and recognitions

 * Raj Singh Dungarpur award for being the highest scorer in the Vijay Merchant Trophy (2015-2016), and also for being the highest wicket-taker in the same tournament with 57 wickets under his belt.