The 28-year-old Indian all-rounder Hardik Pandya created history last Thursday (7th July) evening during the Southampton T20I match against the hosts England. He became the first Indian cricketer to score a fifty and also claimed a four-wicket haul in the same T20I as it was the best all-round performance by an Indian in a T20I match.
It was the first game of the three-match T20I series between the hosts England and the visitors India. After the Indian captain Rohit Sharma chose to bat first, the visitors scored 198/8 in 20 overs. In reply, the home team was all out for only 148 runs as the visiting side has taken the 1-0 lead in this series after winning the series opener by 50 runs.
Hardik Pandya vs England in 2022 Southampton T20I: 51 runs (33 balls) and 4-0-33-4
Hardik Pandya played a huge role in both halves of the game. At first, the right-handed middle-order batter scored 51 runs off 33 balls (6 fours and only six) at the crucial moment.
Later, the right-arm pacer Pandya had the bowling figures of 4-0-33-4. He first broke the confidence of the English batting line-up by dismissing Dawid Malan (21), Liam Livingstone (0) and the struggling opener Jason Roy (4). Later, he took another wicket of Sam Curran (4).
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Pandya surpassed Yuvraj Singh’s record in a T20I match
Before Pandya, there was only one Indian cricketer to manage 50+ runs and a 3-wicket haul in a T20I match. During the 2009 Mohali T20I against Sri Lanka, the birthday boy left-handed batter Yuvraj Singh scored a match-winning 60 not out after the left-arm spinner managed the bowling figures of 3-0-23-3.
So, Hardik Pandya now became the first Indian to record 50+ runs and a 4-wicket haul in the same T20I match.
In the meantime, the latest ESPNcricinfo record suggests that Pandya became the 12th all-rounder and fourth Asian all-rounder to achieve the feat of managing 50+ runs and a 4-wicket haul in the same T20I. However, he became the first Asian and seventh overall pace-bowling all-rounder to achieve this special T20I record.
