The rise to the top of the ICC T20I batting rankings by India’s star opener Abhishek Sharma has been one of the most encouraging achievements. From a four-year-old boy preoccupied with his bat in a modest house in Amritsar to the world’s No. 1 T20I batter with a record-breaking 931 rating points, the youngster is now realizing his childhood goal.
Pathan presented previously unseen stories from Abhishek’s upbringing and linked them to the cricketer’s development in domestic, IPL, and now international cricket. Over the last year, the southpaw’s exploits, particularly in the Asia Cup 2025 and the Australia series, have established him as India’s most important T20I player. Pathan began by describing Abhishek’s first cricket earnings at the age of 13.
“A 13-year-old boy from Amritsar comes home with his first cricket earnings of INR. 2000. Imagine, at that age, anyone would have bought new shoes, new bat or would have partied with friends. But this boy takes this money straight to his grandmother,” he said on his YouTube channel.
Irfan Pathan went on to say how his grandmother informed Abhishek’s father that as he grew older, he would achieve great recognition around the world.
“And tells his grandmother to give him this money. Grandmother always used to tell this boy’s father that your son will earn a lot of fame in the world. This boy had a passion for cricket since childhood. He was 4 years old when he got his first bat. And after that, he never let anyone live in peace. Mom, dad, sister, he used to tell everyone all day to bowl to him. And he used to party all day. There was a small temple in the house. And he used to keep all his bats here. In fact, even today, he has become the number one T20 international batsman in the world. But whenever he comes back, he keeps all his bats in this temple. Some things never change,” he added.
Watch the full video below:
Abhishek Sharma hits peak form ahead of T20 World Cup 2026
Abhishek Sharma climbed up the ranks by crushing age-group cricket and representing India U19, and scoring high in competitions. This career changed in the 2024 edition of the IPL, where he had 484 runs and a strike rate of over 200. Having a great performance hastened his debut in India. He began with a duck in Zimbabwe but in his second engagement he replied with a century. He went on to score 135 against England at Wankhede stadium the highest T20I score by an Indian.
Abhishek became the most prolific run-scorer in the Asia Cup and the Player of the Tournament. He was the top scorer and Player of the Series with Australia. He broke the world record of the fastest run in 1000 T20I in the number of balls faced with the record of 528 balls. He also became the fastest Indian to achieve the number of matches and did it in 28 innings. Having 931 rating points, Abhishek became the first batter in the ICC rankings to achieve the highest rating ever in the history of men T20I. Interestingly, he seems to be in his best shape only before the T20 world cup will be held in India, that will be in February and March 2026.
