Destructive opener Abhishek Sharma started the Indian innings with a six against UAE on Wednesday. He is the fourth Indian batsman to hit a six on the first ball of an innings in T20 International. However, he is the first Indian to do so while chasing a target.

In India's first match against UAE in the Asia Cup on Wednesday, opener Abhishek Sharma created history. He did what no other Indian batsman had done in T20 International till date. He started the innings and hit a six on the very first ball. In this way, he became the first Indian batsman to hit a six on the first ball of an innings while chasing a target in T20I.

By the way, even before this, three Indians have done the miracle of hitting a six on the first ball of an innings in T20 International. But all three times India was batting first, not chasing the target.

India started its campaign in the Asia Cup on Wednesday. Captain Suryakumar Yadav won the toss and decided to bowl first. Thanks to the lethal bowling of left-arm leg-spinner Kuldeep Yadav, the entire UAE team was out for just 57 runs in 13.1 overs. Yadav took 4 wickets. Shivam Dubey took 3 wickets. Jasprit Bumrah, Axar Patel and Varun Chakraborty took 1-1 wickets.

India got a target of just 58 runs to win. The opening pair of Abhishek Sharma and Shubman Gill came to the field. Haider Ali started the bowling for UAE. Sharma sent his very first ball for a six over mid-off.

In this way, Abhishek Sharma became the first batsman in Indian cricket history to hit a six off the very first ball of a T20 innings while chasing a target. He became the fourth batsman to achieve the feat of hitting a six off the very first ball of an Indian innings in T20. Earlier in 2021, Rohit Sharma hit a six off the very first ball of the innings against England in Ahmedabad. After that Yashasvi Jaiswal did this against Zimbabwe in Harare in 2024. Sanju Samson hit a six off the very first ball of the innings against England in Mumbai this year. When Rohit, Jaiswal and Samson did this feat, India was not chasing the target, but was batting first in the match.

Abhishek Sharma scored 30 runs in just 16 balls. He hit 2 fours and 3 sixes in his innings. After his dismissal, vice-captain Shubman Gill and captain Suryakumar Yadav remained unbeaten and gave India a 9-wicket win in the fifth over itself.

Abhishek Sharma made his T20 International debut in July last year. In a short time, he established himself as India's most destructive opener. He also holds the Indian record for playing the biggest innings in T20 International. This year, he played an explosive innings of 135 runs in T20 against England at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. Sharma thus broke Shubman Gill's record (126 not out) for the highest innings by an Indian in T20Is.