Hardik Pandya provided a terrific contribution to India’s bowling innings, taking two wickets including the crucial opening scalp of Babar Azam to begin the wicket-taking for his team. Pandya’s flexibility and all-round ability has been a massive advantage for India, allowing them to play a long batting lineup thanks to his bowling ability.
Pandya brought up his 200th international wicket in this match, and in doing so, became only the sixth Indian player in history to rack up 4000 international runs as well as 200 international wickets.
Pandya has 17 Test wickets, 94 T20 wickets, and now 89 wickets in ODI cricket. He also has 1800+ runs in both T20Is and ODIs, and 500+ runs in Tests. Babar was Hardik’s 199th wicket, while his second wicket of the match saw him dismiss Saud Shakeel, who top scored in the Pakistan innings.
He joins the ranks of Sachin Tendulkar, Kapil Dev, Ravi Shastri, Ravichandran Ashwin, and Ravindra Jadeja as the Indian players to reach that standard, marking his name alongside some of the most successful players in the history of Indian cricket.
The six Indian cricketers with 200+ wickets and 4000+ runs:
Sachin Tendulkar: 34357 runs + 201 wickets
{{/usCountry}}Sachin Tendulkar: 34357 runs + 201 wickets
{{/usCountry}}Kapil Dev: 9031 runs + 687 wickets
Ravi Shastri: 6938 runs + 280 wickets
Ravindra Jadeja: 6664 runs + 604 wickets
Ravi Ashwin: 4394 runs + 765 wickets
Hardik Pandya: 4157 runs + 200 wickets
Pandya’s contribution helped India bowl out Pakistan for 241 runs, setting up a relatively straightforward chase for the Indian team. The chase was anchored by Virat Kohli’s 51st ODI century, completed with a boundary which acted as the winning runs as well as the runs to reach his century.
Pandya came in for a brief cameo with bat, hitting a strong boundary before getting dislodged by a good Shaheen Afridi bouncer. Shreyas Iyer and Shubman Gill also both contributed with centuries, as India go top of the table in the Champions Trophy group and book their spot in the semifinals.
India will now wrap up their Champions Trophy group stage competition against New Zealand, who will be the other favourites to qualify through tomorrow as they face off against Bangladesh.