Watch: Hardik Pandya goes big, hits a hat-trick of sixes to Cameron Green

After being invited to bat first, team India didn’t get off to a great start in the ongoing first T20I against Australia on Tuesday. Skipper Rohit Sharma (11 off 9) and former skipper Virat Kohli (2 off 7) both departed early to leave India reeling at 35 for 2 in 4.5 overs.

However, Suryumar Yadav and KL Rahul took India back into the game by counter-attacking the opposition bowlers. KL Rahul went on to score 55 runs in 35 balls, while Yadav smashed 46 in 25 balls.

Both of them got out by the end of 14 overs and the responsibility to guide the team to a big score was on the shoulders of Hardik Pandya and Dinesh Karthik.

While the latter got out early, Pandya played another outstanding knock with the bat. He started off cautiously before changing gears and also made sure that he stayed right till the end. Pandya scored boundaries all around the ground and took a liking at Cameron Green in the final over of the innings.

At the end of the 19^th over, India were at 187 for 6 with Hardik Pandya at the crease. On the fourth ball of the over, Pandya smashed Green for a six over deep mid-wicket. On the next ball, he lofted one over long-off for another six and followed it a sensational six via an upper-cut.

Pandya smashed a hat-trick of sixes in the last three balls of the innings. He went on to score an unbeaten knock of 71 runs in just 30 deliveires, a knock which had 5 sixes. India, as a result, notched 208 runs at the end of the first innings.

Here’s the video of Pandya hitting a hat-trick of sixes:

Hardik Pandya #INDvsAUS pic.twitter.com/pgfE0piTw8

— Ranjeet - Wear Mask😷 (@ranjeetsaini7) September 20, 2022

Australia, in reply, have been brilliant with the bat. Cameron Green has played a sensational knock of 61 runs in 30 deliveries. At the time of writing, Australia need 40 runs in the last 18 deliveries, while India need 5 wickets.