It has been a long wait on the sidelines for Hardik Pandya as he recovered from back surgery in October 2019 but he’s back with a bang.

The India all-rounder who is representing Reliance 1 in the ongoing DY Patil T20 tournament smashed an unbeaten 158 off just 55 balls against a star-studded BPCL in the semi-finals.

BPCL won the toss and opted to field first and it looked as if they had made the right decision as they sent back the Reliance 1 openers cheaply. However, then, Pandya got stuck in.

He reached his century off 39 balls with a six over mid-on and then added another 58 runs in 16 balls to finish with 158 off just 55 balls. His knock included 20 sixes and just six fours.

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The 158 is also the highest score by an Indian in a T20 game. The earlier record was held by Shreyas Iyer, who had scored 147 for Mumbai against Sikkim in their Group C match of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy earlier this season.

After the game, Pandya spoke to reporters: “It was a difficult situation to come in,” said Pandya. “But it was not about that. It’s about understanding the situation. There was no point in getting 140-150 and it was looking like that. And I had to get the momentum.”

And that is when he decided to go for it. Pandya added: “It was just one of the days when I started hitting and it started connecting and I thought that I should keep continuing and get as much runs as I can get.”

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When the dust settled, he had scored 144 runs in boundaries and sixes alone. At incredible number regardless of the opposition but to do that against BPCL made it even better.

Hardik’s six-hitting prowess was on display in the last IPL season but many were unsure about how well he would come back. However, this knock would have dispelled all worries.

“There is no point in running right if I can hit sixes and if I am connecting. My plan was simple. If I was hitting sixes, I was going to continue hitting sixes. And I don’t think I had to take singles and it was needed at that time.”