Hardik Pandya played his first match for Team India this year on Wednesday (January 22) when the Men in Blue took on England in the first T20I at Eden Gardens, Kolkata.
India's all-rounder played a key role with the ball as India thrashed England by seven wickets to take the lead in the series. When England were asked to bat first, they were bowled out for a modest total of 132 runs. They were at 74/4 at the end of the 10th and were looking to post a tough total above 150.
However, India's bowlers did not allow England to finish their innings strongly and restricted them to a modest total. Captain Jos Buttler had a lone battle for England, scoring 68 runs off 44 balls with the help of eight fours and four sixes.
Apart from Buttler, no other English player has managed to reach the 20-point mark. For India, Varun Chakravarthy was the pick of the bowlers, taking 3 wickets for 23 off his 4 overs. On the other hand, Hardik Pandya, Arshdeep Singh and Axar Patel got two wickets each.
Read also: Watch: 4, 4, 6, 4, 4! Sanju Samson destroys Jos Atkinson in the first T20I at Eden Gardens
With the bat, India chased down the total quite easily. The hosts crossed the finish line in 14th over with the loss of just 3 wickets. Abhishek Sharma shone in the opener with the bat, smashing 79 runs off just 34 balls with the help of 5 fours and 8 sixes. Sanju Samson also started but did not last long and left for 26 runs.
Hardik Pandya leads Jasprit Bumrah:
The wicket in the first T20I against England helped Hardik Pandya move above Jasprit Bumrah as well as Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the list of Indian bowlers with the most wickets in the shortest format of the game.
Before the start of the match, Hardik Pandya was at number five on the list with 89 wickets. He was level with Bumrah on the wicket and one shy of Bhuvneshwar's tally. The wicket took his tally to 91 in T20Is, moving him ahead of Bhuvneshwar and Bumrah.
He now stands third in the overall list behind Yuzvendra Chahal and Arshdeep. Meanwhile, Arshdeep broke Chahal's record in the same game to become India's all-time leading wicket-taker in T20Is. The left-arm pacer now has 97 wickets, one more than Chahal.
