New Delhi: 

Mumbai Indians captain Hardik Pandya scalped his maiden five-wicket haul in T20 cricket in an inspiring bowling performance against Lucknow Super Giants in an Indian Premier League encounter. Hardik etched his name in the history books by becoming the first captain in the history of IPL to claim a five-wicket haul.

The right-arm bowler picked up five wickets for 36 runs in four overs at the Ekana Cricket Stadium as LSG scored 203 for 8 giving Mumbai a target of 204 runs. Hardik opened his account by dismissing Super Giants batters Nicholas Pooran for 12 in the fifth delivery of the ninth over.

In the 11th over, Hardik returned with a bang claiming the most prized wicket of Lucknow skipper Rishabh Pant for just 2 runs.

Meanwhile, Lucknow Super Giants’ openers Mitchell Marsh and Aiden Markram hit half-centuries and shared a 76-run stand as the home team scored 203 runs. Marsh smashed 60 off just 31 balls, while South Africa’s Markram made a 38-ball 53 to give LSG a competitive total.

Ayush Badoni and David Miller also contributed with 30 and 27 runs respectively towards the end. For Mumbai, apart from Hardik, Trent Boult, Ashwani Kumar and Vignesh Puthur also contributed with a wicket each.

Most IPL wickets as a captain

57 – Shane Warne
30 – Hardik Pandya*
30 – Anil Kumble
25 – Ravichandran Ashwin
21 – Pat Cummins

Having bowled two overs, Hardik went off for a while and returned in the 18th over claiming the big wicket of Aiden Markram, who scored a half-century. In the last over of the innings, Hardik first dismissed David Miller (27) and then Akash Deep (0) to complete his five-wicket haul. Hardik thus bettered his T20 figures 4/16 against New Zealand in Ahmedabad in 2023 with 5/35 .

As an IPL captain, Hardik joined Anil Kumble in taking 30 wickets in the cash-rich league. Former Australian great Shane Warne leads the list with 57 wickets as an IPL captain.

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