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Cricket World Cup: After smashing a brilliant maiden international hundred in the second T20I against Zimbabwe, Abhishek Sharma credited his father's advice of playing a lofted shots for his big hitting show.

Playing just his second T20I, the 23-year-old all-rounder slammed a stunning 46-ball hundred on Sunday. The 46-ball ton is the joint-third fastest by an Indian batter in men's T20Is. Rohit Sharma's 35-ball century in 2017 and Suryakumar Yadav's 45-ball ton in 2023, both against Sri Lanka, are the two fastest tons for India, while KL Rahul also had a 46-ball hundred against the West Indies in 2016.

"All this is due to the hard work I've done. Special thanks to my dad, who always encouraged me to play lofted shots, even when I was a kid. Usually coaches don't allow you to play lofted shots much. My dad used to tell me that if you want to play a lofted shot, it should go out of the ground. For me, it's always been there from my childhood that if I'm confident, I like to express myself," said Abhishek, who hit eight sixes in his whirlwind knock, in a post match presser.