Abhishek Sharma warmed up for the T20Is against South Africa with a 52-ball 148 blitzkrieg that was pivotal to Punjab's 112-run victory over Bengal in the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy in Hyderabad on Sunday.
Thanks to the explosive opener's 16 maximums and eight boundaries along with his huge 205-run opening stand with Prabhsimran Singh (70 off 35 balls), Punjab posted a mammoth 310/5 after opting to bat first.
Taking only 12 balls to bring up his half-century, the young left-hander recorded the joint-third-fastest fifty, which was also the joint-second-fastest by an Indian in men's T20 cricket.
In reply, Bengal captain Abhimanyu Easwaran (130 not out off 66 balls) registered his best-ever score in the format as well as his second T20 hundred. But getting absolutely no support at the other end, all that Easwaran's team could manage was 198/9.
Easwaran, too, was at his aggressive best in batting-friendly conditions at the small Gymkhana Ground in Hyderabad. He hit 13 fours and eight sixes in his unbeaten knock, yet it couldn't match that of his Punjab counterpart, whose relentless strokeplay knocked the wind out of the Bengal bowling group's sails. With this defeat, Bengal have slipped to fourth in group C standings.
Brief scores: Punjab 310/5 in 20 ovs (Abhishek Sharma 148, Prabhsimran Singh 70; Akash Deep 2/55). Bengal 198/9 in 20 ovs (Abhimanyu Easwaran 130 n.o.; Harpreet Brar 4/23). Punjab won by 112 runs.