India opener Abhishek Sharma disclosed that during his team's second T20I against Zimbabwe in Harare, he used the bat of teammate and captain Shubman Gill to achieve his first T20I century.

India thrashed Zimbabwe by 100 runs on Sunday (7th July). Abhishek Sharma's sensational hundred and a late blitz from Rinku Singh helped India post a mammoth 234 on the board. In reply, Mukesh Kumar and Avesh Khan both shared 3 wickets each to rip through Zimbabwe's batting lineup. Abhishek scored 100 runs from 47 balls with 7 fours and 8 sixes. However, he hit a duck in his debut match yesterday, which India lost by 13 runs.

"The journey has been very beautiful. When we started playing, we were around 10-11 years and we have been playing since U12 together. The ultimate goal was to represent the country. I have said this before that the first call I got (about selection) was from Shubman, he was very happy,” Abhishek said.

"I played with his [Shubman's] bat today and it went really well, special thanks to him for the bat. This happens from the U12 days, whenever I think it's a pressure game or it's a match I should perform, I take his bat. Even in the IPL, I ask for his bat. Even today it went really well."

Gill and Abhishek have a good relationship and have played together since they were both members of Punjab's domestic cricket team.