Hardik Pandya creates history, becomes the first Indian captain to take a wicket in T20Is

Indian allrounder Hardik Pandya, who’s leading the team against Ireland made his first match as captain quite a memorable one. He also became the 9th Indian cricketer to lead the ‘Men in Blue’ in the T20Is. After raising the Gujarat franchise to their maiden Indian T20 League title with his remarkable performance as a captain, Hardik got a golden chance to make his debut as a captain for Team India. 

Hardik won the toss and chose to bowl first against Ireland on a relatively wet day at Dublin. Due to heavy downpour, the game was reduced to 12 overs and the Indian pacers were doing their job right from the first ball. Bhuvneshwar Kumar gave India a head start by picking the Ireland skipper Andy Balbirnie’s wicket. Right after that Hardik took the matter into his own hands and opened the innings from the other end.

Hardik didn’t take much time to create an impact. The all-rounder notched Stirling in his first over itself. Stirling shot an early boundary in the Indian skipper’s first over but Hardik had his last laugh as he forced the Irish veteran for a false shot over the covers which got him out cheaply. With that wicket, Hardik created history, as out of 9 captains who led India in a T20I game he took the first wicket in a T20I match. None of  MS Dhoni, Ajinkya Rahane, Virender Sehwag, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, and Rishabh Pant has taken a wicket in T20Is as a captain.

Hardik also was brilliant with the bat. The stand-by captain scored a quick 24 runs in 12 balls which contributed crucially to chasing the target of 109 runs in 9.2 overs.

Deepak Hooda who was promoted up in the order to open with Ishan Kishan remained unbeaten on 47 off 29 balls while the explosive Ishan Kishan gave his team a perfect start by scoring 26 runs off 11 balls. Eventually, they all aided India to win their 1st T20I against Ireland on their soil.