Watch: Hardik Pandya's bat takes flight, still he strikes a brilliant four

Hardik Pandya, on Sunday (October 6), showed his finishing skills once again as India thrashed Bangladesh by seven wickets in the first T20I to take the lead in the three-match series.

Chasing a modest total of 128 runs, India were in a spot of bother after losing the wickets of two set batters in quick succession. The hosts were on 65/1 at one stage before Suryakumar Yadav (29) and Sanju Samson (29) departed in quick time to leave the team reeling at 80/3.

With debutant Nitish Reddy batting on the other end, the onus was on Hardik Pandya to bail the team out of trouble and he did not disappoint. The former T20I vice-captain played a stunning knock of 39 runs to take India over the finishing line.

His knock came off only 16 deliveries and was studded with five fours and two sixes. Pandya also shared an unbeaten stand of 52 runs with Reddy who played the role of second fiddle to perfection. Reddy remained unbeaten on 16 off 15 balls.

Hardik Pandya's bizarre four:

Hardik Pandya finished the game in style for Team India. In the 12th over of India's innings, he took Taskin Ahmed to the cleaners to take India over the line. The allrounder hit the Bangladesh pacer for two fours and a six in a row to end the game in style.

Apart from his finishing skills, Pandya also caught everyone's attention with the four that he hit off Taskin. On the fourth ball of the 12th over, Pandya ended up hitting the ball for a boundary even after completely losing the grip of the bat.

After Taskin bowled a full toss on the off stump, Pandya swung hard at the ball. In doing so, he lost the grip of the bat and it flew away towards the leg side. However, before that, the ball had hit the bat and raced away to the fence, leaving one and all surprised.

Watch the four from Hardik Pandya:

#HARDIKPANDYA, THE MAN ON A MISSION 💪

- 39*(16) with bat.
- 26/1(4) with ball.

Indian cricket is lucky to have Hardik in white ball cricket.#INDvBAN pic.twitter.com/7kiJnY4FHo

— Rakesh Bhakhar (@Rakeshbhakharj) October 6, 2024

Both the ball and the bat on air !😂🔥
Hardik ❤️‍🔥#INDvsBAN #HardikPandya pic.twitter.com/xp10xOx4fP

— Ansu Anto (@ansuanto96) October 6, 2024

Earlier in the game, Bangladesh were all out for 127 runs. At one stage, they were reeling at 57/5 before an unbeaten 35-run knock from Mehidy Hasan Miraz guided them to a 120-plus total. For India, Arshdeep Singh and Varun Chakravarthy picked up 3 wickets each.