IPL 2020: Hardik Pandya smiles his way back to the pavilion after hit-wicket dismissal

Hardik Pandya had moments to rejoice after his team, Mumbai Indians (MI), managed to beat the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) by 49 runs in their second game of the 2020 Indian Premier League (IPL). The victory also took Rohit Sharma and Co to the top of the points table in the tournament. But from a personal viewpoint, Hardik didn’t have the greatest of days.

He came to bat in the 16th over after Sunil Narine got rid of Saurabh Tiwary, who was looking ominous at 21 off 13 with a four and a six. He started cautiously, playing out four dot balls off Narine, who was frugal as ever. But in the next over, the right-hander upped the ante, smashing fast bowler Pat Cummins for a couple of scorching fours on the leg-side.

Hardik Pandya gets out in an indifferent manner

In the same over, he also muscled the KKR speedster for a humongous over-boundary over the deep mid-wicket region. However, his innings came to an end in a bizarre manner. In the third ball of the 19th over, Andre Russell speared in a yorker and Pandya tried to dig out the toe-crusher.

But even as he was bringing his bat down, he managed to smash his own stumps. All he could do was walk off with a smile on his face. Nevertheless, he played a vital cameo of 18 runs off 13 balls, injecting some momentum into Mumbai’s innings in the death overs.

Here’s the video: –

#IPL2020 : #KKRvsMI 5th Match : Hardik – hit wicket b Russell pic.twitter.com/6B3KB82Gij

— IPL 2020 HIGHLIGHT (@ipl2020highlite) September 23, 2020

As far as MI are concerned, they dominated the Knights yet again in the IPL, winning their 20th match against the Men in Gold and Purple. After being put in to bat first, the Mumbai-based franchise hammered 195 in their 20 overs. Skipper Rohit led from the front with a 54-ball 80 that included three fours and six sixes. He eventually got out of pacer Shivam Mavi.

During the run-chase, MI picked up wickets at regular intervals. For KKR, Dinesh Karthik, Nitish Rana, Eoin Morgan and Dre-Russ got starts, but none could carry on. Pat Cummins had a rough day with the ball, but he entertained with a 12-ball 33, including a 27-run over off Jasprit Bumrah.