"I haven't seen a better T20 hundred" - Gautam Gambhir's massive praise for Abhishek Sharma's century in IND vs ENG 5th T20I 2025

Team India head coach Gautam Gambhir heaped praise on opening batter Abhishek Sharma following his century against England in the fifth T20I against England in Mumbai on Sunday, February 2. The remarks came after Abhishek smashed 135 runs off 54 balls with the help of 13 sixes and seven boundaries. His knock helped the Men in Blue beat England by 150 runs in the dead rubber.

Gambhir said that he hasn’t witnessed a better T20 hundred against a quality bowling attack with the pacers cloaking 140 to 150 kmph. He added that guys like Abhishek needs to be given a longer rope for their match-winning abilities while backing his agressive game play.

Gautam Gambhir told Star Sports (via PTI/ Hindustan Times):

"I haven't seen a better T20 hundred against bowlers who are bowling at 140-150 kph consistently."

"We are going to do this going forward, got to play fearless cricket. We want to keep backing players like Abhishek Sharma. We have to be patient to with these boys. Most of these boys believe in the ideology of playing fearless cricket," he added.

Ahead of the ODI series, Gambhir further backed the boys to post mammoth totals with their attacking intent in white-ball cricket. The 43-year-old said in the same interaction:

"England are a very high quality side. We don't want to fear losing a game. We want to get to a total of 250-260, and at times we will get bowled out for 120, but we are on the right track."

“We want to play as aggressively as we can in the ODIs, want to entertain the crowd,” he added.

Gambhir also broke his silence on the concussion sub controversy over Harshit Rana replacing Shivam Dube, he said:

"He probably bowled four overs today.”

Notably, Shivam Dube bagged two wickets after scoring 30 off 13 balls in the contest.

The southpaw previously smashed 53 off 34 before getting hit on the helmet in the fourth T20I in Pune. Harshit Rana replaced him in during England's chase and bagged three wickets to help India win the game by 15 runs and seal the series.

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"When results start going your way" - Gautam Gambhir replies critics weeks after rumors of rift in Indian dressing room

Gautam Gambhir further retorted at critics weeks after rumors of rift in the Indian dressing room during the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy. He said that things fall in place when results go in the right direction. He concluded:

"When results start going your way, everything goes well. Our players know what it means to represent 140-150 crore Indians."

Led by Rohit Sharma, India will next lock horns in a three-match ODI series against England. The opening game is scheduled to be played in Nagpur on Thursday, February 6.

Apart from Rohit, big guns like Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja will also be in action in the 50-over series.