Indian opener Abhishek Sharma delivered a rousing speech in Punjabi during the team huddle before the third T20I against Afghanistan at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi, on Thursday. Sharma motivated his teammates to give their absolute best and not take things for granted, as they had already taken an impregnable lead of 2-0 in the series.

Abhishek walked the talk as he scored a magnum opus knock of 108 runs off 34 balls, including nine fours and 11 sixes. The left-hander reached his century off just 30 balls, which is the fastest for a batter from a Test-playing nation. The southpaw scored his runs at a blistering strike rate of 317.65 as he batted at the top of his game.

As a result, India posted a par score of 221 runs on the board, whereas Afghanistan was skittled out for 94 runs. Thus, India registered a comprehensive 127-run win to take the series 3-0.

Abhishek Sharma said in a video uploaded on BCCI’s X account, “I’m going to speak Punjabi,” Sharma declared to his assembled teammates. “So boys, today we are going to play like soormas. Soorma means warriors. The way we’ve been playing this entire series, that’s exactly how we need to finish it today.”

“Warriors never show mercy to anyone. We aren’t letting them off the hook today. It’s the last match of the series, look at the crowd, we are going to give them full entertainment. Alright? Otherwise, let’s smash it. Chak de phatte, nap de killi, subah Jalandhar, shaam nu Delhi,” he added.

Abhishek scored 229 runs in three games of the series at an average of 76.33 and a blistering strike rate of 269.71 against Afghanistan. Ergo, the left-hander was awarded Player of the Series.