Abhishek Sharma's 69th six takes him past Suryakumar Yadav's calendar-year T20I record

Abhishek Sharma has hit more sixes in a calendar year than any batter from a Full Member nation, passing Suryakumar Yadav's four-year-old mark in Hyderabad

The record fell in the ninth over of India's chase at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium. Abhishek advanced at Shamar Springer and cleared the boundary, and the shot took him to 69 sixes in 2026 — one more than Suryakumar Yadav managed in 2022.

It was the only six Abhishek hit all night. He made 29 from 24 balls with three fours before falling, and India never recovered the rate they needed.

West Indies won the fourth T20I by 24 runs to level the five-match series at 2-2, which leaves the milestone sitting inside a defeat rather than a celebration.

A mark four years old

Suryakumar Yadav set the previous record of 68 sixes during 2022, the year he established himself as the most destructive T20I batter in the world. It had stood untouched since.

Abhishek drew level with it three days earlier in Indore, in an innings of 69 from 30 balls built on six fours and five sixes. He was caught and bowled by Springer there, and reached the record off the same bowler in Hyderabad.

The record is counted among batters from Full Member nations, the ten countries with Test status.

The six came in a losing cause

West Indies had made 247 for 3 from their 20 overs after India chose to bowl. Shai Hope finished on 102 not out from 50 balls with nine sixes and four fours, and Sherfane Rutherford added 49 not out from 26.

India were bowled out for 223 in 19.3 overs in reply. Sanju Samson's 56 from 23 balls and Tilak Varma's 43 kept the chase alive for a time, but Keemo Paul's 5-41 took it apart.

Arshdeep Singh was struck on the shoulder in the closing over and did not return, leaving India waiting on a fitness assessment before the decider.

Not only about hitting sixes

Abhishek has been reluctant to frame his year as a six-hitting exercise. "Of course, I feel it's not about hitting sixes," he said in Indore after the third T20I. "It's about getting that big over whenever you can."

He described his opening over there, bowled by an off-spinner, as a private contest. "Obviously, an off-spinner was bowling me the first over. So, it was just a battle between him and me," he said.

On India's approach to that match, which they won by 14 runs, he said the side had gone in with a clear instruction: "We were very much prepared this time that we had to be ruthless."

A year of records

The sixes mark is the second record Abhishek has taken from Suryakumar this series. In Indore he became the fastest batter to 2,000 T20I runs, reaching the figure in 1,024 balls against Suryakumar's 1,164 and Aaron Finch's 1,283.

His own previous best for a calendar year was 54 sixes in 2025, which now sits third on the list behind his 2026 tally and Suryakumar's 2022.

No other batter is close this year. Ishan Kishan is the next-best with 52 sixes in 2026.

Nine innings still to come

India have one T20I left against West Indies, then five against New Zealand and three against Sri Lanka before the year ends, so the tally has room to grow well beyond 69.

At his current rate that leaves an outside case for 100 T20I sixes in a calendar year, a figure no batter from a Test-playing nation has reached.

The immediate task is narrower. India have lost two of the last three in this series and need the decider to take a series they led 2-1 with two to play.

The fifth T20I is at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Saturday, with the series level at 2-2.

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