Ireland vs India, 2nd T20I: Hardik Pandya's cameo is SK Play of the day
India rounded off the two-match T20I series against Ireland with a resounding 143-run win in the second T20I at Dublin with half-centuries by Lokesh Rahul and Suresh Raina being complemented by a superb cameo of 32 runs off 9 balls by Hardik Pandya being the day's highlight.
India' win was the second biggest victory margin in terms of runs in T20I history as Ireland were bowled out for just 70 runs with spin duo Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal picking three wickets each while the pace bowlers also got into the act, sharing four wickets between them.
India scored in excess of 200 for the second time running after being put into bat by Ireland skipper Gary Wilson and though his Indian counterpart Virat Kohli missed out being dismissed for 9, Rahul, who was brought into the side after missing the first match, and Raina got the Indian innings underway with a 106-run partnership for the second wicket.
Kevin O'Brien struck twice in three balls, dismissing Rahul and then Rohit Sharma, to peg things back a little for Ireland and with Manish Pandey struggling to get the big shots going, it seemed as if the visitors would have to settle for a score under 200.
But Hardik Pandya changed all that after coming into bat at the fall of Raina's wicket in the 18th over with a cameo that can be described as nothing short of a carnage.
The Indian all-rounder made his intentions pretty clear with consecutive sixes off the third and fourth deliveries he faced. He followed it up with two more sixes and a boundary in the 20th over bowled by Ireland's most successful bowler of the day - O'Brien.
While Pandya faced just nine balls, he managed to score 32 runs to help India achieve their fourth highest T20I total and from a personal point of view, Pandya's strike rate of 355.55 was the third highest ever in T20 history with a minimum cut-off of 30 runs.
With knocks like these, Pandya is proving to be an integral part of the Indian T20 side and it is only a matter of getting that consistency day in, day out that is separating the 24-year-old from achieving true greatness.
Today though he was simply outstanding and that's why his superb knock is today's SK Play of the Day.
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