Aakash Chopra, a former Indian opener, has named the finest T20I batter in global cricket following the high-octane India-South Africa series. The ‘This or That’ exercise began with a contest between Mitchell Marsh and David Miller.
Aakash Chopra sided with the former in the round, choosing Marsh over Dewald Brevis and Tim Seifert. However, when it came to the in-form Tilak Varma, the former opener preferred the young Indian above the Australian T20I captain.
Tilak Varma won the next five rounds, defeating Kusal Mendis, Phil Salt, Shubman Gill, Josh Inglis, and Rahmanullah Gurbaz. Chopra eventually let go of Tilak when he faced Australian starter Travis Head.
Head defeated T20 legends Jos Buttler and Suryakumar Yadav in the next two rounds before narrowly defeating teammate Tim David in the final round. However, in the final, Chopra named Head’s SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) colleague Abhishek Sharma the best contemporary T20I batter.
Abhishek Sharma has enjoyed a 2025 season for the ages in T20Is
Abhishek Sharma’s T20I hitting skyrocketed this year after being called up to the Indian squad in the middle of 2024. This season, the 25-year-old has scored runs in T20Is under a variety of conditions while maintaining a remarkable strike rate.
He ends the year with 859 runs in T20Is at an average of 42.95 and a strike rate just shy of 193 in 21 appearances. He took India to victory in the 2025 Asia Cup in the UAE with a tally of 314 runs at nearly 45 and a strike rate of close to 200 from seven matches.
He also registered the second-fastest T20I ton by an Indian off just 37 balls against England in Mumbai at the start of the year. Abhishek has been the top T20I batsman in ICC rankings for much of the year.
His overall stats in T20Is are very good as well with 1,115 runs at an average of almost 36 and a strike rate of 188.02 in 33 matches.
The left-arm pacer will be keen to assist India in defending their T20 World Cup title in the 2026 edition, scheduled to start on February 7.
