Hardik Pandya becomes the fastest Indian to score 100 sixes.
Hardik Pandya, who is the Indian cricket team’s star all-rounder and the skipper of Gujarat Titans in the Indian Premier League, reached a new milestone on Monday when he scored his 100th six in the tournament
Image credit: pia.images.co.uk Hardik Pandya winning knock for Gujarat Titans
Hardik achieved this feat in 1046 balls. This makes him 3rd fastest in the list of all-time six hitters behind Chris Gayle and Andre Russel, both from West Indies. Hardik was able to reach this landmark during the clash against Sunrisers Hyderabad here at the Dr DY Patil Sports Academy in Navi Mumbai on Monday.
The stylish all-rounder showed his form with an unbeaten 42-ball 50* and silenced those who were questioning his bowling prowess with an economical display of 4 overs for 27 with one scalp.
Gujarat Titans lost this match due to the superb performance by Sunrisers Hyderabad skipper Kane Williamson, who scored 57. He was assisted by Abhishek Sharma, who made a rapid-fire 42. These performances helped the Sunrisers chase down a total of 163 in 19.1 overs. This is the first time Gujrat faced a defeat in IPL 2022 after scoring 3 consecutive wins.
This match also witnessed a bit of drama when Hardik Pandya lost his cool during Sunrisers Hyderabad”s innings. It happened when Rahul Tripathi hit Pandya in the third man region where Mohammad Shami was fielding. Hardik lost his cool and started abusing his fellow fast bowler and senior player Shami for not going in for the catch. Fans on social media and various cricket personalities have condemned Hardik's reaction with some going as far as calling him “One of the most classless persons to play cricket”.
Earlier, Hardik Pandya used to play for Mumbai Indians but was released by them ahead of the mega auction. He was purchased by the Gujarat franchise for a whopping 15 crore and was made captain of the team. This is his first stint as an IPL captain. His captaincy is already praised by veteran cricketer and former South African skipper Graeme Smith who said, "He is like a kid who has been made captain of a U-15 team. Boy! Isn't he doing it well, I was very, very impressed with his captaincy. He has got an aura and personality, he owns himself to leading other men. He looks calm, he always looks calculated."