Hardik Pandya achieves huge feat for India, joins Rohit, Kohli in elite list after 28-ball 59 vs South Africa
Hardik Pandya starred in India's emphatic 101-run victory in the first T20I against South Africa with a blistering knock of an unbeaten 59 off just 28 deliveries.
Hardik Pandya made a strong comeback for India in the first T20I against South Africa in Cuttack on Tuesday after spending a couple of months on the sidelines due to a left quadricep injury. Pandya slammed a blistering knock of unbeaten 59 off just 28 balls and picked up a wicket to help India thrash the Proteas by 101 runs and go 1-0 up in the five-match T20I series.
On a day when most Indian batters struggled to score quickly, Hardik provided India with the impetuous with his brilliant 59-run knock, which was laced with four sixes and six fours. The star all-rounder came out to bat at no.6 and notched up a fifty off just 25 balls to help India post 175/6 on the board in 20 overs after a sluggish start.
En route to his unbeaten 59-run knock, Hardik became only the fourth Indian to complete 100 sixes in T20Is as he joined Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and T20I skipper Suryakumar Yadav in an elite list. Hardik now has 100 sixes to his name in 121 matches. He has scored 1919 runs for India at an average of 28.22 and a strike rate of 142.46 in T20Is.
Former India captain Rohit Sharma, who retired from T20Is last year, holds the record for most sixes in the format. The Hitman smashed an impressive 205 sixes in 159 matches in T20Is and is the only batter with more than 200 sixes in the format. Suryakumar has 155 sixes in 96 matches for India in T20Is, while Kohli finishes his T20I career with 124 sixes in 125 matches.
Most sixes for India in T20Is:
Rohit Sharma - 205 sixes
Suryakumar Yadav - 155 sixes
Virat Kohli - 124 sixes
Hardik Pandya - 100 sixes*
India hammer South Africa by 101 runs in Cuttack
After Hardik's blitzkrieg, Indian bowlers produced a combined effort to bowl out South Africa for a paltry 74 and secure a thumping 101-run victory at the Barabati Stadium in Cuttack. Arshdeep Singh provided the hosts with a dream start with the ball by picking up two quick wickets with the new ball.
The left-arm pacer removed South Africa opener Quinton de Kock on a duck, before dismissing Tristan Stubbs cheaply on 14. Axar Patel sent Proteas skipper Aiden Markram packing cheaply on 14 to reduce the visitors to 40/3 inside the Powerplay. South Africa failed to recover from the disastrous start and kept losing wickets at regular intervals to eventually get bowled out for 74 runs in just 12.3 overs.
Arshdeep, Axar, Jasprit Bumrah and Varun Chakaravarthy picked up two wickets each for India, while Hardik and Shivam Dube bagged a wicket apiece. Bumrah became the second Indian bowler to complete 100 wickets in T20Is after his excellent spell of 2/17 off his 3 overs.