Ahmedabad T20: India’s strong score due to the blazing half-centuries of Hardik Pandya and Tilak Verma.

Ahmedabad. Hardik Pandya became the second Indian batsman to score the fastest half-century in T20 cricket and on the basis of his century partnership with Tilak Verma (73), India scored 231 runs for five wickets in the fifth and last T20 match against South Africa. Pandya scored his seventh half-century in just 16 balls. This is the fastest fifty by an Indian batsman after Yuvraj Singh’s half-century scored in 12 balls.

Yuvraj had achieved this feat against England at Kingsmead in 2007 when he hit six sixes in six balls. Pandya scored 63 runs in 25 balls with the help of five fours and five sixes. He made a partnership of 105 runs in 44 balls with Tilak for the fourth wicket. Tilak added 73 runs in 42 balls with ten fours and one six.

Pandya, who came to the applause of the spectators at his home ground in the IPL, played a brilliant innings while captain Suryakumar Yadav (five) once again failed. Amidst Pandya’s stormy innings, Tilak held one end and kept rotating the strike. Earlier, Abhishek Sharma (34) and Sanju Samson (37) had taken India to 63 runs in the sixth over itself.

Samson, who was playing due to injury to vice-captain Shubman Gill, took full advantage of the opportunity and cemented his claim in front of the committee that met on Saturday to select the team for next year’s T20 World Cup. Samson was dismissed by George Linde on a ball falling on the leg stump. Samson started by hitting a six off Marco Jansen and also hit two brilliant strokes off Otniel Bartman.

Samson also got a lease of life just before his dismissal when Donovan Ferreira missed his return catch and the ball hit umpire Rohan Pandit near his knee. After this, a six from Pandya injured a member of the broadcast team, who got hurt on his left arm and the ball bounced into the hands of the viewer ten rows back.