Twitter goes wild as Hardik Pandya hits his maiden international century

Playing his maiden Test series, Indian all-rounder Hardik Pandya has seized the opportunity in fashion. He achieved the feat of most runs by an Indian batsman in a single over, first Indian to score 100 runs before lunch time and the fastest century by an indian batting at number 8 or lower batsman playing for India.

Pandya came to the crease yesterday at 322/6, India added seven more runs before stump, and with Sri Lanka fighting back, the honours were equal at the end of day’s play. This morning, the Baroda all-rounder single-handedly took on the hosts and in the process helped India get to a dominating position. He often comes to bat when India stays in the driving seat, but today was his opportunity to claim the stakes of a Test player. Pandya ramped the short ones and hammered the loose ones. He reached his fifty in the 113th over by pushing for a single and brought out the 2-2 ‘Dhawan celebration‘.

26 runs off an over

Pandya took a special liking for Pushpakumara, who got both the openers out yesterday to put the hosts back in the game. The Indian all-rounder hammered the first delivery to deep mid-wicket for a boundary, he whacked the next one to long-off. He came down the track to deliver a massive six to make it 4, 4, 6, but he wasn’t done yet. Pandya slammed two more sixes to make it 26 runs from the over.

Fastest century by an Indian at no 8 or lower

He inched closer to the century, but Pandya wasn’t bothered much. The all-rounder flashed out two huge maximum and then a boundary to reach his maiden Test century. The 2-2 celebration was out again. This was the fastest century by an Indian batting at no 8, putting all the talks about his position to rest. Sri Lanka looked like a team without any plan, as the game kept on slipping from their lap. A score of over 500 clearly puts the hosts in a spot of bother.

Here is how Twitter reacted to his quickfire knock: