India vs South Africa: Abhishek Sharma fails to beat Virat Kohli's major T20 record

Abhishek Sharma ended 2025 with another typically aggressive innings, a 21-ball 34 against South Africa in the fifth T20I at Ahmedabad on Friday (December 19). The southpaw hit six boundaries and a six in his stay, as he ensured another brisk start in the powerplay for India this year. However, Abhishek missed out on a major opporunity to set a new T20 record.

Before the game, the left-hander needed 47 runs to go past Virat Kohli's record for the most T20 runs in a year - 1614 set in 2016. As fate would have it, Abhishek ended up just 13 short of setting a new world record. With the way he is batting these days and with age on his side, Abhishek is sure to get more opportunities in the coming years but this was a case of 'so near yet so far'.

A sharp short ball from Corbin Bosch brought about the end for Abhishek who tried to pull it away but could only a tiny bit of glove onto it. It seemed an obvious deflection but Abhishek tried his luck with a review, only to burn it. This dismissal was the second time Bosch had dismissed Abhishek from a set of just six deliveries.

Abhishek ends the year with 859 runs from 21 innings in T20I cricket, averaging 42.95 and having a mammoth strike rate of 193.46. During the tour of Australia in November, the Punjab batter hit the milestone for fastest 1000 runs in T20Is, getting them in just 528 deliveries to set an unprecedented record in the shortest format.

Consistently destructive performances from Abhishek has seen him get to the top of the ICC T20I batting rankings where he sits currently on 909 points, 60 points clear of England's Phil Salt who takes the second spot. Tilak Varma (4th) and skipper Suryakumar Yadav (10th) are the other Indian batters in the top ten.