Hardik Pandya Achieves Historic First. Not Even Jasprit Bumrah, Virat Kohli Or Rohit Sharma Have It

Hardik Pandya led Baroda to an emphatic five-wicket win over Gujarat in the ongoing Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy in Indore. Making a rare appearance in the domestic circuit, Hardik smashed an unbeaten knock of 74 runs off 35 balls, striking 211.4 with six fours and five sixes. By doing so, Hardik etched his name in the history book with a never-before-seen record. He became the first Indian player to register a unique double of 5000 runs and 100-plus wickets in the T20 format. The former India T20 captain has 5,067 runs and 180 wickets to his name.

In the match against Gujarat, Hardik also took a wicket while conceding 37 runs in four overs as Gujarat made 184 for five.

Axar Patel made an unbeaten 43 off 33 balls. But in bowling, the India left-arm spinner could not pick up any wicket while giving away 31 runs in his full quota of overs. Leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi took two wickets.

Meanwhile, Veteran pacer Mohammed Shami’s first white ball outing since 2023 World Cup final was below par but Bengal survived a fine all-round effort by Arshdeep Singh to eke out a four-wicket win over Punjab.

Shami returned with figures of 4-0-46-1 in Punjab’s total of 179 all out in 19.4 overs.

The Bengal man earlier made his red-ball return in a Ranji Trophy match against Madhya Pradesh in Indore and was impressive while picking up seven wickets.

Abhishek Sharma (18 off 8 balls) did not fire but Prabhsimran Singh (35, 19 balls), Anmolpreet Singh (39 off 21 balls) and Arshdeep (23 not out, 11 balls) chipped in for Punjab.

Karan Lal took three wickets for Bengal.

In reply, Shahbaz Ahmed made a 49-ball 100 as Bengal overcame a good spell by pacer Arshdeep (2/21 in 3 overs) to reach the target with an over to spare.

Brief Scores: Group A: At Rajkot: Punjab: 179 all out in 19.4 overs (Prabhsimran Singh 35, Anmolpreet Singh 39, Arshdeep 23; Karan Lal 3/23) lost to Bengal: 181/6 in 19 overs (Shahbaz Ahmed 100 not out, Arshdeep Singh 2/21, Abhishek Sharma 3/37) by 4 wickets.

Group B: At Indore: Gujarat: 184/5 in 20 overs (Aarya Desai 78, Axar Patel 43 not out; Hardik Pandya 1/37, Atit Sheth 2/31) lost to Baroda: 188/5 in 19.4 overs (Hardik Pandya 74 not out, Shivalik Sharma 64; Ravi Bishnoi 2/23) by 5 wickets.

Group C: At Mumbai: Delhi: 233/3 in 20 overs (Priyansh Arya 102, Himmat Singh 77 not out, Bhunveshwar Kumar 1/29) beat UP: 186/8 in 20 overs (Rinku Singh 70, Nitish Rana 61; Ishant Sharma 2/23 by 47 runs.

Group E: At Hyderabad: Services: 149/9 in 20 overs (Mohit Ahlawat 41; Akhil Scaria 5/30) lost to Kerala: 153/ in 18.1 overs (Sanju Samson 75; Pulkit Narang 4/7) by 3 wickets.

(With PTI Inputs)