PBKS vs GT: Shikhar Dhawan becomes first Indian to smash 1,000 fours in T20 cricket

Indian and Punjab Kings batter Shikhar Dhawan stitched history on April 8 (Friday), when he became the first Indian and overall fifth batter to hit 1,000 boundaries in T20 cricket. The left-handed batter achieved the milestone during a group stage match of the Indian Premier League (IPL), played between PBKS and Gujarat Titans at the Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai.

To note, Dhawan took 307 T20 matches to get the record under his name. The left-handed batter needed three fours to reach the landmark and he stroked four of them in his 35 run knock against the Titans to make history. The 36-year old was dismissed by Afghanistan spinner Rashid Khan in the 11th over of the match.

Virat Kohli is second on the list

After Dhawan (1001 fours), former Indian skipper Virat Kohli comes second on the list with 917 fours, followed by current Indian skipper Rohit Sharma (875 fours) and left-handed batter Suresh Raina (779 fours). All these batters have contributed heavily to their respective sides, whether national or franchise-based cricket.

Talking about Dhawan’s numbers in the T20 format, the 36-year old has amassed more than 8850 runs in T20 cricket, with 1759 runs coming for the Men in Blue from 68 T20Is and more than 5880 runs in the IPL. Even though Dhawan is not a regular feature in the Indian T20I squad anymore, the left-handed batter continues to be a prominent batter in the toughest cricket league in the world.

Coming back to PBKS vs GT match, skipper Hardik Pandya after inviting the Kings to have a bat first, tasted some immediate success as skipper Mayank Agarwal (5 off 9 balls) and  Jonny Bairstow (8 off 8) were sent back to the pavilion within the field restrictions.

It was Dhawan and Liam Livingstone (64 off 27 balls), who started a counter-attack against GT bowlers and put the pressure back on them. At one stage, PBKS were looking to score above 200 runs in their 20 overs. However, they lost a cluster of wickets towards the back end of the innings and could only manage to score 189/9.

For GT, Rashid was pick of the bowlers taking three wickets in his four-over quota. Mohammed Shami, Hardik Pandya and Lockie Ferguson also got one wicket each.