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Hardik Pandya Unlocks Rare T20I Landmark For India After Fighting Knock vs South Africa

Aakash Saini

Hardik Pandya took the attack to South Africa after India's early setback [Source: @BCCI/x]Hardik Pandya took the attack to South Africa after India's early setback [Source: @BCCI/x]

Hardik Pandya unlocked a unique T20I landmark for Team India through the course of his fighting knock against South Africa at the St George's Park in Gqeberha. Batting at number six, the hard-hitting all-rounder employed a cautious approach to his batting and carved 39 unbeaten runs from 45 balls to take his team to a respectable 124 by the competition of their 20 overs.

Pandya belted four boundaries and a six in the process, and shared an unbroken 37-run stand with fast bowler Arshdeep Singh after the collective failure of India’s top-order.

Hardik Pandya unlocks THIS T20I milestone

In the 18th over of the Indian innings, Hardik Pandya pumped Marco Jansen out of the ground for a huge six. The boundary conquering hit marked Pandya’s lone maximum of the evening, and extended his T20I career tally to 88 sixes.

Notably, the 31-year-old has clubbed 60 of those sixes during the death overs of the innings for Team India, i.e., between 17th and 20th overs. In doing so, Hardik Pandya has now become the first Indian cricketer to touch the 60-sixes landmark figure in slog overs, finding himself miles ahead of second-placed and former T20I player Virat Kohli (42 sixes).

Here is a look at five Indian batters with the highest number of slog overs sixes to their names:

Player
Sixes
Number of balls faced
Hardik Pandya60469
Virat Kohli42392
MS Dhoni34533
Yuvraj Singh31156
Suryakumar Yadav29179

Batting at number six, Hardik Pandya arrived to the crease in just the ninth over of the Indian innings following the dismissal of Tilak Varma. The experienced all-rounder lifted India’s scoring rate and ensured they reached a respectable 124-6 by the competition of their 20 overs.

Earlier in the match, India lost each of its top three batters for just 15 on the board within the first four overs, losing Abhishek Sharma, in-form Sanju Samson and captain Suryakumar Yadav in the process.