Hardik Pandya creates history in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, making Indian cricket proud with monumental achievement

Hardik Pandya was on fire on Saturday as he led Baroda to a thrilling five-wicket victory over Gujarat in their Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy opener at the Holkar Stadium in Indore. The all-rounder played a scintillating unbeaten innings of 74 runs off just 35 balls, which included six fours and five sixes, at an astonishing strike rate of 211.43.

He top-scored for his side as Baroda chased down a target of 185 runs, reaching 188/5 in 19.3 overs. Shivalik Sharma was also in good batting form for Baroda, registering 64 runs off 43 balls, including seven fours and two sixes. Meanwhile, Ravi Bishnoi struck twice for Gujarat.

Initially, Aarya Desai slammed 78 runs off 52 deliveries, packed with nine fours and three sixes, as Gujarat posted 184/5 in 20 overs. Meanwhile, captain Axar Patel remained unbeaten at 43 off 33 balls. Hardik was also in good bowling form, taking a wicket as he removed opener Desai.

Baroda captain Krunal Pandya also took a wicket, alongwith Mahesh Pithiya. Meanwhile, A Sheth scalped two dismissals for Baroda.

Hardik also reached 5000 runs in T20 cricket, needing only seven runs in Indore to reach the feat, and now he has 5067 in the format. The 31-year-old became the first Indian player with a double of 5000 runs and 100-plus wickets in the T20 format. Now, he also has 180 wickets to his name in the format. Ravindra Jadeja has the second-highest in that list with 3684 runs and 225 wickets in T20 cricket, followed by Axar Patel (2960 and 227), Krunal Pandya (2712 and 138) and Irfan Pathan (2020 and 173).

In other results, Hyderabad defeated Meghalaya by 179 runs, and Saurashtra beat Sikkim by 54 runs. Meanwhile, Mumbai won against Goa by 26 runs, and Madhya Pradesh beat Mizoram by 102 runs.