India’s star all-rounder Hardik Pandya stole the show with his bat at a packed Punjab Cricket Association Stadium in Mohali, Chandigarh. He played a stunning and unbeaten knock of 71 in just 30 deliveries to help India post a challenging total of 208/6 runs against Australia in the 1st T20I match. His firework knock came after KL Rahul (55) and Suryakumar Yadav (46) played crucial innings to bring back the momentum back into the game after quick dismissals of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli.
While Pandya was brilliant throughout his knock, however, it was his finishing move that got the fans jump off their seats and had social media celebrating the special innings that they just witnessed. Having been criticised lately for not finishing the innings, Hardik Pandya silenced his critics with style as he lit up the PCA Stadium with a hat-trick of sixes off the bowling off Cameron Green.
Yes, Hardik sent Cameron Green for three back-to-back sixes on the final three deliveries of the first innings as India crossed a 200+ score with ease. In the first ball off the last over, Harshal Patel took a single and Pandya refused a single off the second ball. In the third ball off the over, Pandya unleashed his inner beast as he smashed a short arm pull with enough power that took the ball over the cow corner.
The second ball was a lot purer, in terms of the shot selection. In the next ball, he went for a fuller delivery, Pandya went deep into the crease and launched the ball over the infield for a long and straight six. Now India had 202 runs on the scoreboard but Pandya added another six to it, smashing the final ball off the innings over the deep point boundary.
Hardik Pandya played a stunning knock of 71 runs off just 30 deliveries. His unbeaten knock was laced with 7 fours and 5 sixes. However, all his efforts went in vain as the Indian bowlers failed to restrict the Australian batters and as a result India was defeated by 4 wickets.
After the match, Hardik took to his social media and shared an emotional message for his fans. Sharing some pictures from his top-class knock, Pandya wrote: “We’ll learn. We’ll improve. A big thanks to all our fans for your support, always”
Check out the Tweet:
We’ll learn. We’ll improve. A big thanks to all our fans for your support, always 🇮🇳 🙏 pic.twitter.com/yMSVCRkEBI
— hardik pandya (@hardikpandya7) September 20, 2022
