Stats: Hardik Pandya's quick-fire fifty on Test debut

Padnya hit a total of 3 sixes in the innings to become the first Indian to hit more than two sixes on Test debut.

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Hardik Pandya
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Indian batsman Hardik Pandya plays a shot. (Photo by ISHARA S. KODIKARA/AFP/Getty Images)

Hardik Pandya made his bat talk on his Test debut scoring a quick fifty against Sri Lanka on the 2nd day of the Galle Test. Pandya walked out to bat when the Indian score board read 491/6 and they were looking for some quick runs to get anywhere close to 600 which could give a chance to have a go at the Lankans towards the end of the day. It was a perfect situation for the all-rounder to play his natural game.

He opened his account with a boundary on the 3rd ball he faced charging down the ground to Rangana Herath. But wickets of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja seemed to have put Pandya on the back foot and the right-hander got lucky when Dimuth Karunaratne dropped him in the slips. With Mohammed Shami offering stable support from the other end, Pandya too went for his shots smashing the pacers behind square to rattle their short ball tactics.

He hit a total of 3 sixes in the innings to become the first Indian to hit more than two sixes on Test debut. Previously, 7 players had hit 2 sixes on their Test debut including 4 players hitting two sixes in the same innings on debut.

Most sixes on Test debut by Indians:

SixesPlayer1st inns2nd innsRunsOppositionGroundStart Date
3HH Pandya5050 Sri LankaGalle26-Jul-2017
2Dilawar Hussain5957116 EnglandKolkata5-Jan-1934
2CS Nayudu361551 EnglandKolkata5-Jan-1934
2PH Sharma5449103 West IndiesDelhi11-Dec-1974
2BS Sandhu711283 PakistanHyderabad (Sind)14-Jan-1983
2V Yadav3030 ZimbabweDelhi13-Mar-1993
2SK Raina120120 Sri LankaColombo (SSC)26-Jul-2010
2S Dhawan187DNB187 AustraliaMohali14-Mar-2013

 

Overall, only 10 players before Pandya have hit three or more sixes in an innings on their Test debut. 8 of those managed to strike the biggies in the first innings while Tim Southee and Keshav Maharaj got those in the 2nd innings on debut. Southee hit 9 sixes in an innings on debut while former Australian captain Michael Clarke hit 4. Remaining 9 including Pandya have hit 3 sixes in an innings on debut.

Most sixes in an innings on Test debut:

PlayerTeamSixesRunsBallsOppositionGroundStart Date
TG Southee New Zealand977*40 EnglandNapier22-Mar-2008
MJ Clarke Australia4151248 IndiaBengaluru6-Oct-2004
BR Taylor New Zealand3105 IndiaKolkata5-Mar-1965
CG Greenidge West Indies393 IndiaBengaluru22-Nov-1974
Z de Bruyn South Africa383206 IndiaKanpur20-Nov-2004
Abul Hasan Bangladesh3113123 West IndiesKhulna21-Nov-2012
HD Rutherford New Zealand3171217 EnglandDunedin6-Mar-2013
JC Buttler England38583 IndiaSouthampton27-Jul-2014
L Ronchi New Zealand38870 EnglandLeeds29-May-2015
KA Maharaj South Africa341*34 AustraliaPerth3-Nov-2016
HH Pandya India35049 Sri LankaGalle26-Jul-2017

 

Hardik Pandya was dismissed by pacer Lahiru Kumara attempting a big blow on the very next ball after completing his fifty. He took 48 balls for his half-century the 2nd fewest by any Indian on their Test debut. Yadavenadra Singh, famously known as the Yuvraj of Patiala scored his fifty in just 42 balls on his debut in 1934 against England.

Fastest fifties by Indians on Test debut:

Balls taken for fiftyPlayerRunsBalls facedInnsOppositionGroundStart Date
42Yuvraj of Patiala60504 EnglandChennai10-Feb-1934
48Hardik Pandya50491 Sri LankaGalle26-Jul-2017
50Shikhar Dhawan1871742 AustraliaMohali14-Mar-2013
59L Amarnath1181803 EnglandMumbai15-Dec-1933
61L Amar Singh51614 EnglandLord’s25-Jun-1932
64Cheteshwar Pujara72894 AustraliaBengaluru9-Oct-2010

 

(Stats as on July 27, 2017)

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