NEW DELHI: On Sunday, Hardik Pandya, created history by scoring 1000 runs and claiming 50 wickets in T20 Internationals, becoming the first Indian all-rounder to do so.
Pandya reached the milestone during India's match with historical opponent Pakistan in the Super 12s of the ongoing T20 World Cup 2022 at the venerable Melbourne Cricket Ground.
India was down to 31 for 4 after 6.1 overs when Pandya entered the game in the second innings. He provided former captain Virat Kohli with the appropriate support as the two started to turn around India's innings. Eventually, they partnered up for 113 runs. Pandya scored 40 runs off 37 balls with a strike rate of 108.10, including two sixes and one boundary.
The all-rounder led the Men in Blue to reduce Pakistan to 159 for 8 in 20 overs by picking up vital wickets for his team, including those of Haider Ali, Shadab Khan, and Mohammad Nawaz. As per the sources, with an economy of 7.50, the 29-year-old only allowed 30 runs in his four overs.
India now leads Group 2 with two points after considering the game where India defeated Pakistan by four wickets in their Group 2, Super 12 match of the 2018 ICC T20 World Cup on Sunday at the storied Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), thanks to an explosive half-century by star batsman Virat Kohli and a century stand with Hardik Pandya.
After the victory, Hardik also conversed with Virat Kohli where he said, "Those two shots you played, only because I know how crucial those two shots were, if you had missed even one shot, still they were leading the game." I have struck many sixes, but those two sixes were truly exceptional. We honestly had so much excitement about what it represented for us both. I told him that even though I had played a lot of cricket, I didn't think anyone else but Mr. Kohli could have made those two strokes.
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