It’s Not Just His Six Appeal
- Hindol Basu
- TNNUpdated: Feb 06, 2026, 19:10 IST IST
India begin the defence of their men’s T20 World Cup title today carrying numbers that tell a story of excess. Since Oct 2023, they enjoy a dominant 48-8 win-loss record, the highest number of 200-plus totals, and have turned six-hitting into muscle memory, one every 10.99 balls. This is not a side tiptoeing into a global tournament. It is one that has made aggression its default setting, not a campaign promise.
And the clearest expression of that shift stands at the top of the order in Abhishek Sharma, whose strike-rate of 194.74 has reset India’s idea of what a Powerplay should look like – one where the opposition is behind the game by the seventh over. That, more than any slogan, is intent.
And the clearest expression of that shift stands at the top of the order in Abhishek Sharma, whose strike-rate of 194.74 has reset India’s idea of what a Powerplay should look like – one where the opposition is behind the game by the seventh over. That, more than any slogan, is intent.
