Hardik Pandya
Hardik Pandya (Credits: Twitter)

Riding on Hardik Pandya’s whirlwind century, Reliance 1 thrashed BPCL by 104 runs to storm into the final of the DY Patil T20 Tournament. Asked to bat first, Reliance 1 posted a mammoth total of 238 for 4 in the allotted 20 overs. In reply, BPCL came up with a disastrous display and were all out for just 134.

Reliance 1 were off to a poor start as both their openers – Anmolpreet Singh (4) and Shikhar Dhawan (3) – failed to get going. At 10 for 2 in the fourth over, Reliance 1 were firmly on the backfoot before Hardik Pandya took charge of the innings. He added 106 runs with Saurabh Tiwary who was out for 41.

After Tiwary’s dismissal in the 13th over, it was a Hardik Pandya show as the India allrounder took the bowlers to the cleaners. He remained till the end and slammed 158 not out from just 55 balls. Pandya’s knock was studded with 6 fours and a staggering 20 sixes.

In reply, BPCL were all out for just 134 in the 16th over. The writing was very much on the wall for the Shreyas Iyer-led side right from the time Reliance 1 ended their innings and BPCL batsmen did very little to turn the contest around.

Within the powerplay, BPCL lost their top three batsmen and never really recovered from those early setbacks. Iyer showed some resistance with the bat and top-scored for his side with 42. But barring him, no other batsmen could put up a good fight with the bat.

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Leg-spinner Rahul Chahar was the pick of the bowlers for Reliance 1, picking up 3 off 19 runs from four overs. India speedster Bhuvneshwar Kumar bowled two overs and went for 14 runs while picking up 1 wicket. Hardik Pandya also bowled one over and picked up a wicket too while conceding only six runs.

Match Scorecard:

Reliance 1, BPCL, scorecard
Reliance 1 innings (Credits: Tripoturf)
Reliance 1, BPCL, scorecard
BPCL bowling innings (Credits: Tripoturf)

 

Reliance 1, BPCL, scorecard
BPCL batting innings (Credits: Tripoturf)
Reliance 1, BPCL, scorecard
Reliance 1 bowling innings (Credits: Tripoturf)

Watch: Hardik Pandya’s Bizarre Exercise While Batting During His 158*-Run Knock