The score reads 76/5 and all Indian fans go – ‘here we go again, India can never compete in South Africa, forget winning!’ Dhawan gone, Kohli gone, Pujara too back in the hut and guess who the Indians are banking on – the seaming all-rounder Hardik Pandya.
The Gujarat cricketer has shown his hard-hitting abilities in his short international career so far, but he still had to prove his skill in playing a classic Test match innings.
Soon after he came in to bat, Ravichandran Ashwin and Wriddhiman Saha perished in quick succession, so it was all down to Pandya to help India.
The 24-year-old put his hand up and played a whirlwind innings of 93 runs off 95 balls.
Here’s a look at the five highlights from Pandya’s innings.
1. Pandya Smashes 2nd Fastest 50 by an Indian in SA
Hardik Pandya scored his half-century in just 46 balls, which is the second fastest (tied) half-century by an Indian in South Africa. MS Dhoni scored the fastest 50 in 40 balls in the Centurion Test in 2010 and Virender Sehwag scored a half-century in 46 balls in the same Test.
2. Positive Innings
In the very next over after the over in which Saha was dismissed, Pandya struck South Africa’s opening bowler Vernon Philander for three boundaries. He sent out a strong message saying – ‘I’m here to stay’.
Pandya played his natural aggressive game, but with a little caution in this innings. He got into the right positions to play his shots and helped India move from 76/5 to 199/9, until he was dismissed on 93 by Kagiso Rabada.
Pandya smashed 14 boundaries and a six during his innings. He’s the top-scorer among both the teams so far.
3. 99-Run Partnership with Bhuvneshwar Kumar
While Hardik Pandya was playing his natural game, Bhuvneshwar Kumar played the second fiddle’s role perfectly. He assured Pandya that he had the technique and confidence to hang around.
However, Pandya scored the bulk of the runs, so much so that when they strung a partnership of 50 runs, the Gujarat cricketer scored 47 of those runs!
Thereafter, Bhuvneshwar started playing a few shots and eventually he contributed 25 of the 99 runs.
4. Pandya Struck Boundaries in Three Consecutive Overs
During an innings when the batsmen were finding it difficult to hit one boundary, Pandya struck one boundary in each of the 52nd, 53rd and 54th overs.
He reached his half-century by striking a delivery off Morne Morkel over mid-off for a boundary in the 52nd over.
In the 53rd over, Pandya managed to send Kagiso Rabada’s delivery over the wicketkeeper to the fence. To complete the trinity, the Gujarat cricketer pulled Morkel in the 54th over for four runs. This boundary brought up Pandya and Bhuvneshwar’s 50-run partnership.
5. Twitterati Laud Pandya
(Statistics by Arun Gopalakrishnan)
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