India all-rounder Hardik Pandya was one of the heroes for the men in blue in their series-sealing victory over England at the MCA Stadium in Pune. He slammed 53 runs off just 30 deliveries with four fours and as many sixes to help the hosts recover from a precarious position of 79/5 in the 11th over of the innings. In the process, Hardik also went past Shikhar Dhawan in the list of most runs for India in T20 Internationals.
Before the match started, Hardik needed only 10 runs to become India's fifth-highest run-getter surpassing Dhawan and he did so easily within the first few minutes after coming out to bat. He has now amassed 1803 runs in 89 innings in T20Is at an average of 28.17 and a strike rate of 141.63 with five half-centuries to his name.
Dhawan, during his storied India career, played 68 matches in the shortest format and scored 1759 runs at an average of 27.92 and a strike rate of 126.36. However, he slowly went down the pecking order before getting dropped from the team and eventually retired from international cricket after losing his place in the national side from all formats.
Meanwhile, Hardik Pandya is also nearing a special milestone of 2000 runs to become only the fourth Indian to do so and is 197 runs away from the landmark at the moment. Moreover, during the fourth T20I, Pandya became the first Indian player to score more than 1500 runs, pick more than 50 wickets and also notch up five half-centuries in the shortest format of the game. Apart from him, only Shakib Al Hasan, Sikandar Raza and Mohammad Nabi have achieved this rare treble in T20I cricket.
As far as the match is concerned, India recovered from 12/3 after losing the toss and posted 181 runs in their 20 overs thanks to blistering fifties from Pandya and Shivam Dube. India managed to defend the total as well with England capitulating on 166 in the final over.