Watch: Abhishek Sharma's sixes vs Afghanistan in Delhi

Abhishek Sharma showed his six-hitting skills when India locked horns with Afghanistan in an away-format first T20I of the three-match series on September 13 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi. It was a chance for the Shreyas Iyer-led side to get back on track after their two successive T20I series defeats against Ireland and England.

Shreyas Iyer won the toss and decided to ball first on a surface which looked strong for batting, as the Indian captain kept the dew factor in mind. However, he surprised everyone by revealing that Vaibhav Sooryavanshi wasn’t part of their playing eleven of the T20I clash.

Abhishek Sharma smashes a 22-ball fifty to cut through Afghanistan's bowling

Abhishek Sharma’s first six of the evening came on the final ball of the opening over when he went off the mark by freeing his arms and going inside out over the covers. He stood tall and extended his arms through the line to send Azmatullah Omarzai over the long-off stands for a huge over boundary.

Watch Abhishek Sharma's sixes here-

On the fifth delivery of the fifth over, the left-handed batter smoked the pull against Fazalhaq Farooqi in front of the square region. He didn’t fear to come down the track and put Rashid Khan out of the stands as he cleared the fence over the mid-wicket region.

Abhishek punished the short ball from Noor Ahmed into the stands for another six as he threw his kitchen sink and launched the ball over the extra cover for an 83-meter six. His last over boundary sailed over the deep square leg for another clear six.

From bowling Afghanistan out for 156 to chasing it down in a flash

Afghanistan were restricted to 156 runs for the loss of eight wickets in their allotted 20 overs, thanks to the 83-run partnership for the fifth wicket as Azmatullah Omarzai remained unbeaten on 64 runs off 44 balls at a strike rate of 145.45 with four boundaries and four sixes, while Mohammad Nabi drilled 33 runs off 27 balls. Arshdeep Singh ended up with 3/19 in four overs.

India completed the chase by seven wickets with 38 balls to spare as Abhishek cracked a fine knock of 82 runs off 32 balls, thanks to seven boundaries and seven sixes at a strike rate of 256.25. Ishan Kishan slammed 42 runs in 33 balls.

Brief Scores: India 157/3 (Abhishek Sharma 82, Ishan Kishan 42, Mohammad Nabi 2/28) beat Afghanistan 156/8 (Azmatullah Omarzai 64*, Arshdeep Singh 3/19) by 7-wickets.