Among the three formats, competition for places in the India side is particularly intense in T20 because of the talent spurt due to the platform provided by IPL. There were quite a few options for opener for the selectors – Yashasvi Jaiswal was doing wonders for Rajasthan Royals, Shubman Gill was consistency personified for Gujarat Titans and Abhishek Sharma was blazing away for Sunrisers Hyderabad. To add to these options, when given the chance to open, Sanju Samson of Rajasthan Royals had played some blistering knocks.

Rohit had set a successful template of an all-out attacking opener, certainly not an easy role to live up to. With three months to go for the next T20 World Cup, Abhishek is the one who has emerged as a like-for-like replacement for Rohit. Equally flamboyant, he bats with the fearlessness of Rohit and looks set to lead India’s batting at the home World Cup starting in February.

After being the standout batter in the T20 Asia Cup win in September, the left-hander on Saturday was named Player-of-the-Series in the T20 series in Australia. India won the series 2-1 after Saturday’s fifth and final game at the Gabba was abandoned after 4.5 overs due to lightning and then heavy rain.

In what play was possible, India had raced away to 52/0 with the player from Punjab becoming the fastest to reach 1,000 T20I runs in terms of deliveries — 528. He reached the milestone when he got to 11 runs off seven deliveries. Abhishek was on 23 off 13 balls and Shubman Gill 29 off 16 when weather intervened.

Having stuck to his high-risk attacking game, Abhishek was the top-scorer of the series with 163 runs in five innings at an average of 40.75.

“When you want to dominate the opposition you have to have that confidence and ability. The captain and coach always backed me on that. It is not easy to come to Australia and beat them, in white-ball cricket as well. I had a plan, I wanted to play the same brand of cricket because that is what we have been following before the Asia Cup as well. And the plan was to go out and give momentum to the team. I was practicing really hard,” Abhishek told the media in his post-series comments.

His no-holds-barred hitting rattles opposition. If it was Pakistan at the Asia Cup, he had the same impact even in tough batting conditions in Australia. Adjusting to the bounce is a challenge, the ball hits the bat higher and makes it tougher to middle. For batters of average height, advancing a couple of steps is the key. Abhishek adapted well. A gifted striker of the cricket ball, he kept putting the bowlers under pressure by going for shots straightaway. His game plan was to put them on the defensive. His battle with Josh Hazlewood, who played the first two games, was a highlight of the series.

“The way Hazlewood was bowling would be useful (to plan and improve). I’ve enjoyed my battles with him. I was practicing for these kinds of bowlers because that’s how you build momentum for your team,” he said at the presentation ceremony.

Hazlewood had said Australia were looking to exploit Abhishek’s weakness and playing more against him will help spot his weak points. How to respond to the opposition’s different gameplans will be his next challenge.

“Bowlers will bowl less on my strength, and it will be a challenge on how to improve further. For that I feel you need a very positive environment which I am getting (from captain and coach), because when you play aggressively and try to dominate, things can fluctuate. The captain and coach told me one thing earlier also, that “even if you get out on zero or 15-20, you will be there in the team”. To say and doing it are two different things but I have got that positivity from the team. As a young team, we’ve been playing together for some time and we will keep growing.”

Being from the same batch as Shubman Gill that won the 2018 U-19 World Cup, Abhishek’s career didn’t take off like his Punjab teammate’s. However, as he is realising his potential now the best part is to see the two develop a good opening partnership in T20s. Gill was the second highest scorer in the series with 132 runs at an average of 44. On Saturday, it was a switch of roles with Gill being the pace-setter with six fours in the first 11 balls he faced while Abhishek struggled for rhythm, and was dropped twice.

Abhishek said the way Gill started, their partnership has become “fire and fire” instead of “fire and ice”. “Obviously we have been playing since under-12 days, our understanding is very good because I know which shots he is looking to play or which bowler he can hit and he knows the same thing about me. We keep having that conversation. We enjoy that.”