Abhishek Sharma once again proved his class in T20 internationals, playing a brilliant knock against Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. The young left-handed batsman scored 68 runs off 37 balls, with eight fours and two sixes, continuing his red-hot form from the Asia Cup.

Abhishek took just 23 balls to reach his half-century, his seventh fifty in 25 or fewer balls in T20Is - which equals the record for the joint-most by some of the big names in this format. For full-member nations, only Suryakumar Yadav, Phil Salt, and Evin Lewis have done this before.

Except for Abhishek, no other Indian batters could make a mark. Harshit Rana was the other batsman who put up some resistance with 35 from 33 deliveries. The rest of the batters found it difficult to negotiate the bounce and movement at the MCG with 22 runs coming in 42 balls from them.

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The pacers, led by Josh Hazlewood, were outstanding for Australia in terms of their control and precision. He bowled 15 dot balls in his four-over spell, bringing in Test-match discipline into a T20 game. He tied them down at regular intervals with his tight bowling.

India also made a few tweaks with their batting order - Sanju Samson batted at three while Harshit Rana was promoted ahead of Shivam Dube. These experiments didn't pay off as the side continued losing wickets at regular intervals.

Abhishek and Harshit built a fifty-run stand, but once that partnership was broken, Australia took full control. Then Bartlett sealed the deal with two quick wickets, and the tailenders couldn’t recover from there.

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But Abhishek's performance, against the limited help provided by wickets, showed growing maturity and adaptability against top-class bowling attacks. And his aggressive approach, with smart movement across the crease, turned him into a stand-out on a tough pitch.