20 sixes, 6 fours: Hardik Pandya smashes 158* in DY Patil T20 Cup

Hardik Pandya, who is playing his first competitive tournament in five months, hit as many as 20 sixes in a blistering innings coming in to bat at No.4 for Reliance 1in DY Patil T20 Cup.

20 sixes and six fours in an innings. No that is not the entire team’s stat but Hardik Pandya’s boundary count at the end of the first innings of DY Patil T20 Cup semi-final on Friday. The India all-rounder continued his destructive form on return from injury by slamming an unbeaten 158 off just 55 balls for Reliance 1 against BPCL the DY Patil Stadium in Mumbai on Friday.

Hardik Pandya (Twitter)

Hardik Pandya, who is playing his first competitive tournament in five months, hit as many as 20 sixes in a blistering innings coming to bat at No.4 for Reliance 1. Hardik also hit six fours in his knock providing entertained the crowd who had turned up to see the likes of him, Shikhar Dhawan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Shreyas Iyer among others.

Hardik’s superlative innings, which came days after he had smashed 105 off 39 balls in the same tournament, propelled his side to 238 for 4, batting first.

After smashing 105 against CAG in a Group C encounter few days ago, he had said: “It’s fantastic (platform) for someone like me. I have been away for almost six months. This is my second game after a long time. For me it is a good platform to see where I am currently and test my body. I am really happy with the way things have gone,” Hardik said on DY Patil Sports Academy Facebook page.

On his big-hitting prowess, the 26-year old added: “If it’s there in my arc I just back myself and go for it. Most of the times, it comes out pretty well. There is no plan that I am going to go out there and smash it.”

(WITH IANS inputs)