Abhishek Sharma opens up on story behind his ‘L’ celebration

Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) young batting sensation Abhishek Sharma on Monday revealed the reason behind his unique ‘L’ celebration—a sign made using his thumb and index finger—after securing wins and reaching important batting milestones.

Fiery knocks from Abhishek Sharma and Heinrich Klaasen guided the Sunrisers Hyderabad to chase down 215 against the Punjab Kings with five balls to spare in the Indian Premier League 2024 at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Sunday.

Speaking about the celebration in a video posted by the Indian Premier League (IPL) official X handle, Abhishek shared that this celebration was started by him and his opening partner Travis Head. “It is personal to us. It stands for love, we are spreading love,” said Abhishek.

He also mentioned the special feeling of having his family at the stadium. “My whole family, except my father, is here. It is special to me if they are able to come here and see me, celebrate with me in such moments,” he added.

Abhishek made history on Sunday, becoming the Indian batter with the most sixes in a single edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). During the game, Abhishek smashed 66 runs in just 28 balls, with five fours and six sixes, at a strike rate of 235.71.

In this season, Abhishek has hit 41 sixes, surpassing Virat Kohli’s tally of 38 sixes in the 2016 IPL for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), making him the Indian player with the most sixes in a single IPL edition. He also overtook Heinrich Klaasen’s tally of 33 sixes this year and David Warner’s 31 sixes in 2016, as well as Travis Head’s 31 sixes in 2024, to become the SRH player with the most sixes in a single season. West Indies legend Chris Gayle leads the six-hitting list with 59 sixes for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the 2012 season.

Abhishek, in 13 innings, has scored 467 runs, the ninth most by a batter this season, at an average of 38.91 and a strike rate of 209.41. He has scored three half-centuries, with the best score of 75*.

Coming to the match, PBKS won the toss and elected to bat first. A hard-hitting half-century from Prabhsimran Singh (71) and knocks from Rilee Rossouw (49) and Atharva Taide (46) set the tone for a big total, taking PBKS to 214/5 in their 20 overs. T. Natarajan (2/33) was the pick of the bowlers for SRH.

In the run-chase, after losing Travis Head for a duck, Abhishek Sharma (66), Nitish Kumar Reddy (37), and Heinrich Klaasen (42) played fiery knocks to propel SRH to 215/6 in 19.1 overs, winning the game with five balls left. Arshdeep Singh (2/37) was the pick of the bowlers for PBKS. Abhishek was the Player of the Match for his quickfire fifty.

SRH is now at number two in the points table, with eight wins, five losses, and one no result, totaling 17 points. PBKS is in the ninth spot with five wins, nine losses, and 10 points.