India star all-rounder Hardik Pandya made a sensational return to international cricket and played a fiery knock of 59 against South Africa in the first T20I of the five-match series. He had been absent since September after he had sustained a quadriceps injury ahead of the Asia Cup final, but picked up form straight away and played a phenomenal knock to carry the hosts to a fighting total of 175/6 in 20 overs at the Barabati stadium in Cuttack.
Hardik joins an elite club of Indian players
Hardik's unbeaten innings included six boundaries and four sixes and saw him become only the fourth Indian player to hit 100 or more maximums in the shortest format. The all-rounder has surpassed KL Rahul on the elite list and now has hit exactly 100 sixes in T20Is. He joins the likes of Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav and Virat Kohli as the only players to achieve the feat.
Most sixes for India in T20Is -
1. Rohit Sharma - 205 sixes
2. Suryakumar Yadav - 155 sixes
3. Virat Kohli - 124 sixes
4. Hardik Pandya - 100 sixes
5. KL Rahul - 99 sixes
Hardik came to the crease after India lost Tilak Varma for 26 runs in the 12th over and got restricted down to 78/4. The Men in Blue hadn't had a great start to the match as the likes of Abhishek Sharma (17), Shubman Gill (4) and Suryakumar Yadav (12) had departed cheaply.
Hardik single-handedly carries India's batting order
Hardik looked to be in good touch as soon as he came to the crease and a decent stand with Axar Patel soon followed. However, after the latter got dismissed for 23 runs in the 14th over, the 32-year-old decided to take matters into his own hands. Hardik hit a flurry of boundaries and despite not receiving an awful lot of support from the other end, his half-century ensured that India posted a respectable total on the board. It remains to be seen if their bowlers will manage to defend the 176-run target and start the five-match series on a positive note.