Introduction
Indian cricket has produced many great IPL innings. Virat Kohli’s 973 runs in a season. Suresh Raina’s first-ever IPL century. MS Dhoni’s countless last-ball finishes. But until April 12, 2025, no Indian batter had ever scored more than 128 in a single IPL innings. That record fell when Abhishek Sharma, Sunrisers Hyderabad’s aggressive left-handed opener, walked out to bat against Punjab Kings at Mullanpur and hit his way to 141 off 55 balls. The third highest individual score in IPL history. The highest ever by an Indian.
The Innings — Numbers That Require Repeating
Abhishek Sharma’s 141 came off 55 balls at a strike rate of 256.36. He hit 9 fours and 15 sixes — 15 sixes in a single IPL innings. Only Chris Gayle (17 sixes in his 175*) and one other batter have hit more sixes in a single T20 innings in history. He reached his fifty off just 17 balls. His century came off 38 balls. He then scored 41 more runs in the following 17 balls. The PBKS bowling attack contained international bowlers including Arshdeep Singh and Marco Jansen — two of the best death-over specialists in world cricket — and he hit them to every corner of the ground. SRH posted 276/5 in their 20 overs. It remains the highest IPL total at the Mullanpur ground.
The Pattern Behind the Explosion — Who Abhishek Sharma Is
Abhishek Sharma’s IPL career trajectory is the story of a left-handed power hitter who took several seasons to find the franchise that understood what he could do. He was bought and released by multiple franchises before SRH gave him the consistent top-order opportunity he needed in 2023. The match that changed his status in Indian cricket came in the 2024 T20 World Cup, where he scored 47 runs off just 23 balls against Ireland in a game India needed to win quickly. In IPL terms, he has been SRH’s most aggressive opener, adding to the Travis Head partnership at the top a combination that other franchises have had no reliable tactical answer to. The 141 was not an anomaly — it was the ceiling of a player who had been building toward something like it across several seasons.
Where It Ranks and What Comes Next
Abhishek Sharma’s 141 sits behind only Chris Gayle’s 175* (2013) and Brendon McCullum’s 158* (2008) in the all-time IPL individual score list. He is the first Indian to appear in the top five all-time IPL individual scores. The record had been held by Virat Kohli (113) and then briefly by Sachin Tendulkar (100*) in the early years. That an IPL record of this significance has been broken in 2025 by a 24-year-old from Amritsar who was once released by two franchises is a testament to how the competition’s talent development pipeline now works. In IPL 2026, heading into SRH as one of their retained core players, Abhishek Sharma will be one of the most watched batting talents in the competition.
DID YOU KNOW? Abhishek Sharma’s 141 included 15 sixes — the most ever hit by an Indian batter in a single T20 innings. He scored 93 runs from his first 30 balls in the innings, which itself would have been one of the fastest half-centuries in IPL history.
Final Verdict The highest IPL score by an Indian. 15 sixes. 141 runs off 55 balls. Abhishek Sharma’s innings was not just a record — it was a statement that Indian cricket’s next generation of power hitters has arrived.