Abhishek Sharma blasts 148 as Punjab rout Bengal
Hyderabad: Punjab opener Abhishek Sharma unleashed a record-breaking assault to smash 148 off 52 balls and script a 112-run win over Bengal in a Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 match at the Gymkhana Ground in Secunderabad on Monday.
Abhishek, 25, hammered 8 fours and 16 sixes, scoring 128 runs in boundaries. He reached his half-century in 12 balls with 5 fours and 5 sixes, becoming the second-quickest Indian to a T20 fifty, a mark first achieved by his mentor Yuvraj Singh against England in 2007.
He then raced to his century in 32 balls, registering the second-fastest T20 hundred of his career.
Punjab pile up 310/5, second-highest in tournament history
Batting first, Punjab posted 310/5 in 20 overs the second-highest total in the history of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.
Abhishek and fellow opener Prabhsimran Singh (70 off 35; 8 fours, 4 sixes) added 205 for the first wicket.
Even after Abhishek fell with 17 balls left, Punjab continued to accelerate.
Ramandeep Singh struck 30 off 15, while Sanvir Singh blasted 22 off 3 balls.
For Bengal, Mohammed Shami took 1/61 and Akash Deep claimed 2/55.
Easwaran’s lone fight in Bengal’s chase
Chasing 311, Bengal were restricted to 198/9.
Captain Abhimanyu Easwaran fought a solitary battle with an unbeaten 130 off 66 balls (13 fours, 8 sixes).
Only Akash Deep crossed double-digits among the rest, scoring 31 off 7 balls.
The remaining batters Abishek Porel (6), Karan Lal (1), Shahbaz Ahmed (0), Sudip Kumar (4), Habib Gandhi (1) and Writtick Chatterjee (1) — fell cheaply.
Punjab’s Harpreet Brar picked up 4 wickets, while Gurnoor Brar and Nehal Wadhera took two each.
Across both innings, the match produced 508 runs in 40 overs.
Other Group B results
In other Group B fixtures, Gujarat beat Haryana by 7 wickets, Services defeated Puducherry by 4 runs, and Baroda overcame Himachal Pradesh by 5 wickets.
