Hardik Pandya's maiden ton frustrates Sri Lanka and shatters several records
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All-rounder Hardik Pandya scored his maiden Test century against Sri Lanka in only 86 balls in his third match, breaking quite a lot of records. The century was the fastest for an Indian No.8 batsman and his 26 runs in an over made him the highest Indian run-getter off an over in Test cricket.
Pandya scored his first hundred in first-class cricket in the third Test against Sri Lanka in Pallekele in only 86 balls. The seven sixes and six boundaries were of assistance in making the ton. He was benefitted from the Lankan bowlers’ wayward bowling and too, smashed an incredible 26 runs off a Malinda Pushpakumara over, creating a record of most runs scored in an over in Test cricket by an Indian. His brutal power-hitting left the Sri Lankan team clueless on the field as he put on a 62-run partnership with Kuldeep Yadav for the eighth wicket and added another 66 runs with Umesh Yadav for the last wicket.
The century not only helped India pile a lot of pressure on the hosts but also shattered several records.
1- Pandya scored 107 runs in the first session of the second day and hence became the first India player to score over 100 runs before lunch on any day of a Test. However, it was an extended session as India were nine down. The previous most 99 runs were scored by Virender Sehwag in 2006 against West Indies.
2- Pandya’s ton is on the second position on the list of quickest Test centuries in Sri Lanka. In 2000-01, Mahela Jayawardene brought up an 81-ball ton against Bangladesh at the SSC in Colombo.
5- Pandya is the fifth India player to score his maiden first-class century in a Test match after Vijay Manjrekar, Kapil Dev, Ajay Ratra, and Harbhajan Singh. Pandya’s previous highest score was 90 that he had scored for Baroda against Railways in the 2015 Ranji Trophy game in Delhi.
7- Pandya hit 7 sixes and it is the joint-second most in an innings for India. In 1994, Navjot Sidhu hit eight sixes against the same opposition in Lucknow and in 2009, Sehwag hit seven against Sri Lanka at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai. Similarly, Harbhajan Singh also achieved the same feat against New Zealand in 2010.
26- Pandya made 26 runs in a Malinda Pushpakumara over which is the most runs scored off a single over by an Indian batsman in Test cricket. The earlier record was of 24 runs scored by Kapil Dev off Eddie Hemmings at Lord's in 1990 and Sandeep Patil off Bob Willis in Manchester in 1982. In international cricket, only three batsmen have scored more: Brian Lara (28), George Bailey (28) and Shahid Afridi (27).
86- Pandya scored a hundred with 86 balls which
400- India became the first visiting team to score 400-plus totals in each of the three Tests hosted by Sri Lanka. 600 runs were scored in the first Test in Galle, followed up with 622 for 9
36- In this series, 36 sixes were hit, the most ever in a series in Sri Lanka. India, the visiting team, hit 24, that is the most by a visitor, surpassing both records set during the Sri Lanka-Australia series in 2004, where there were 29 hits over the fence and 19 of them were by the visitors.Earlier, only three Indian players hit three or more sixes off consecutive balls in Tests. Kapil Dev hit four at Lord's in 1990, and MS Dhoni hit three in a row in Antigua in 2006. Internationally, Afridi and AB de Villiers are the only other players to have hit four sixes in a row in Tests.
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