From the balcony of the away dressing room at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Sunday, Varun Chakaravarthy watched Abhishek Sharma do what he does best: take the game away before the opposition has time to react.

And for a player who had spent much of 2026 searching for runs, it was quite the statement.

Abhishek's first scoring shot was just as authoritative as the last in a 32-ball assault that left the result little to the imagination. Not that the 156 that the Indian attack had restricted Afghanistan to in the three-match T20I series opener was a stiff challenge in Delhi's batting-friendly conditions, but Abhishek's sustained aggression rendered a quality attack helpless against a masterclass in clean hitting.

Abhishek got off the mark with a stunning inside-out six over covers off Fazalhaq Farooqi, but truly took charge of the chase only after losing his opening partner at the start of the third over. Azmatullah Omarzai came in the line of fire right away, lofted for a six deep into the long-off stands before the southpaw rocked back to pull a short ball through the square leg fence in the same over. Abhishek was in no mood to hold back against Farooqi, who sent down an expensive fifth over for 26. He got onto the front foot and smoked a slower short ball through the on-side for a six before quickly following it up with a flat-batted four to the off-side ropes.

Afghanistan's pace attack lacked bite, or an element of surprise, to pin down an aggressor like Abhishek, and the southpaw took full toll. By the time Afghanistan's new captain Ibrahim Zadran called upon spin, muscle memory kicked in. Mohammad Nabi was hit for back-to-back fours to wrap up the Powerplay at 82/1, of which the left-hander had scored exactly half in just 15 deliveries. Rashid Khan was then welcomed with another splendid inside-out boundary over covers.

A couple of good Noor Ahmad deliveries did get the respect they deserved - with a forward defence from Abhishek that's almost a rarity in T20 cricket. The fifty came off a single tucked to the legside off Rashid. And just as quickly he switched back to attack mode - a shimmy down to collect a six over midwicket and another swat to deep cover to make it a 15-run over from Afghanistan's most-experienced.

There was no safe option left for Afghanistan, and Noor copped the punishment too. The short-ball was nailed over deep midwicket and the fuller delivery next up launched high over deep extra cover for a towering 83m six showcasing his full range. By the time he was done, Abhishek had knocked off 82 runs, seven maximums and as many fours included, becoming the second-fastest to 6000 T20 runs. His 14th sub-25 ball fifty is also a record - the next best is nine by Suryakumar Yadav.

It wasn't just merely reckless scoring though. Abhishek systematically took down every option Afghanistan tried, whether it was attacking pace, then spin, or even occasionally showing enough restraint to demonstrate that his aggression was more calculated than it may seem. He plucked 28 off nine deliveries off pace at a strike-rate of 311.1, and 54 off just 23 at 234.78 off the spin unit that's the nucleus of Afghanistan's attack. More importantly, it was his trademark fearless batting - he picked the length early, used his feet, and punished anything remotely loose.

For Abhishek, though, the significance of the innings went beyond the statistics. He had entered the Afghanistan series under some pressure, his lean patch made more conspicuous by the luxury India had in reserve - the experienced Sanju Samson and the fearless Vaibhav Sooryavanshi both pushing for a place at the top.

Abhishek's T20 World Cup at home, earlier this year, had begun with three consecutive ducks before he found his feet in the second half of India's title defence. Since then, though, the runs had been hard to come by. In his previous six T20I innings, he had only two double-digit scores with 16 being his highest. India had stayed with him through it all. In the 10 previous T20Is this World Cup cycle, Abhishek had scored just 191 runs. But the management's faith in his ability remained intact. Even with three of India's most dangerous T20 openers vying for two spots, Abhishek's spot in the XI seemed most assured yet.

The onus, therefore, was on the Punjab batter to repay the faith. And he did so in the most Abhishek Sharma style - by attacking first, attacking hard, and leaving Afghanistan with no refuge in Delhi.

Having been at the receiving end of it in the domestic circuit, Chakaravarthy could only sympathise with those on the other side while enjoying his balcony view. "I have personally bowled against them, I know how hard it is. I feel for their spinners," he said. It was indeed the simplest way to sum up what Abhishek had just done.