Sometimes, given the talent that is at display in the Indian team, we tend to forget what Hardik Pandya can do. The wiry player that he is, he packs a punch, and can clear any boundary in the world with utmost ease. This is perhaps, what the South African bowlers need to be reminded, especially spinner George Linde, who was hit for 27 runs in the 14th over.
And out of those, Hardik Pandya went on to smash the bowler for — 4, 6, 6, 4. That was in a way, rolling back the years, where the all-rounder would just take the attack to the opposition bowlers. That meant, he slammed his 7th T20I fifty, that too in just 16 balls, the second fastest for an Indian, behind Yuvraj Singh’s 12-ball feat vs England in 2007.
There was a time when Pandya had raced to 31 from just 7 deliveries, hitting three fours and three sixes; had a realistic chance to better Yuvraj’s record. Nonetheless, the 32-year-old has shown rich vein on form, ever since he has come back from his quadriceps injury. In the first match of the series in Cuttack, he had gone on to slam 59 in just 28 deliveries.
Major record for Hardik Pandya
Perhaps the biggest achievement of the day for Pandya came when he achieved 2000 runs in T20Is. He became the first fast-bowling all-rounder, and third overall, to score 2k runs and also take 100 wickets. The other two in the list are Shakib al Hasan and Afghanistan’s Mohammad Nabi.
In the format, with the bat he averages almost 29 with the bat in 124 matches, and has exactly 100 wickets to his name. His economy has been excellent at 8.24 only, which just goes on to show, how valuable he has been for Team India.
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