Hardik Pandya, on Thursday, November 10, played a sparkling knock for India in their semi-final of the T20 World Cup 2022 against England at the Adelaide Oval.

Hardik was slow to start his knock as he scored only 13 runs off his first 15 balls. But with the Men in Blue needing someone to up the ante in the final overs, Hardik put his hands up.

The right-handed batter got to his half-century off 29 balls and looked threatening for the Three Lions. In his last 18 balls, Hardik scored 50 runs at a strike-rate of 277.77.

On the back of his knock, India set their opponents a target of 169 to chase down and advance to the final. Hardik came to bat after Adil Rashid got the important wicket of Suryakumar Yadav, who had scored over 200 runs in the tournament at a strike-rate in excess of 190.

Hardik didn’t let the pressure get the better of him by any stretch of the imagination. The Young Turk hit four fours and as many as five sixes to transfer the pressure to the British team, captained by Jos Buttler.

Hardik scored 40 runs off 36 balls against Pakistan, but strained in the other games with the bat in hand. However, he delivered just when it mattered the most for his team.

Hardik eventually got out hit-wicket while trying to play a delivery on the leg-side. Chris Jordan dismissed him in the last ball of India’s innings.

Hardik, in the meantime, garnered loads of praise from the cricket fraternity for playing the timely knock against the Three Lions on a big stage.