Superstar India all-rounder Hardik Pandya continued his ascent in international cricket, and this time by creating a new record with the ball.
Hardik Pandya retired with brilliant figures of 1/19 in his 4 overs against West Indies on Tuesday in the third T20I of the series, in St. Kitts. In fact, it was Pandya who gave India their first breakthrough, dismissing opener Brandon King after the right-hander had had a quickfire partnership with his opening partner, Kyle Mayers.
Brandon King was dismissed by Pandya for a run-a-ball 20 and before he could step on the gas, the Indian all-rounder had him, chopping onto his stumps to a slow delivery from the seamer.
Hardik Pandya is India’s MVP in white-ball cricket
With this wicket now, Pandya became only the 6th Indian bowler to reach the milestone of 50 T20I wickets. And is now joint wicket Ravindra Jadeja at 50 T20I wickets; to think, Jadeja made his T20I debut in 2009 while Pandya in 2016.
Leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal leads the way with 79 wickets, followed by Bhuvneshwar Kumar who has 73 wickets and Jasprit Bumrah who has 69 T20I scalps. R Ashwin is next on the list with 64 T20I wickets ahead of Jadeja and Pandya.
Pandya has taken his 50 T20I wickets in the 57 innings he has bowled in. With the ball in hand, the Baroda all-rounder averages a decent 27 and with an economy of 8.26.
Pandya has only recently registered his best T20I bowling – 4/33 vs England in Southampton, the game in which he also clattered a half-century, becoming the first Indian to take a four-wicket haul and hit a fifty in the same T20I match.
This all had looked far beyond and almost unimaginable only a few months ago when Pandya was on a break to focus on his fitness, especially his bowling fitness and back injury issues. But returned back in style – first to lead the Gujarat Titans to the IPL 2022 title triumph and then took his place back in the Indian team nad has performed exceedingly well with both bat and ball.
Here are some of the reactions to India’s ‘MVP’ Hardik Pandya:
Hardik Pandya becomes the first Indian to score 500+ runs and take 50+ wickets in men’s T20Is.
— Kausthub Gudipati (@kaustats) August 2, 2022
Hardik Pandya has dismissed openers six times in T20Is + ODIs in 2022.#WIvIND
— Rohit Sankar (@imRohit_SN) August 2, 2022
30 runs + 1 wicket for India in a T20I match
6 times – Hardik Pandya*
4 times – Yuvraj Singh
3 times – Suresh Raina
2 times – Virat Kohli#HardikPandya | #WIvIND— Cricbaba (@thecricbaba) August 2, 2022
Hardik Pandya the MVP – completes 50 wickets in T20is as well. pic.twitter.com/gtosHOzsfr
— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) August 2, 2022
Hardik Pandya picks up his 50th T20I wicket in his 47th innings.
The all-rounder averages 27.30 with the ball in the format, with a strike rate of 19.6. #WIvIND pic.twitter.com/oAqQZ72yfx
— Wisden India (@WisdenIndia) August 2, 2022
#QuickByte: Hardik Pandya’s pitch map in the third T20I
#WIvIND #WIvsIND #CricketTwitter pic.twitter.com/9H5xM3wtXN
— Cricket.com (@weRcricket) August 2, 2022
I am really liking the sound of bat coming from the bat of hardik pandya.#indvswi#wivsind#INDvsWi
— krish homes (@krish_wanderer) August 1, 2022
Mumbai really shouldn’t have let Hardik Pandya go
— Jatin Khandelwal (@jr_khandelwal) August 1, 2022
…Hardik Pandya whenever India needs a breakthrough these days:#CricketTwitter #WIvsIND pic.twitter.com/9j04ENv1ru
— Sky11 (@sky11official) August 2, 2022
