Watch: Hardik Pandya celebrates 22-ball 50 in IND vs ZIM T20 World Cup 2026 Super 8s

Hardik Pandya, as he was one of the vital members of the Indian side when they won the previous T20 World Cup, was going to bring the same balance with both bat and ball in hand in the middle order. But he couldn’t contribute big in the T20 World Cup 2026 campaign yet, as the pressure was on the experienced members during the Super 8 clash against Zimbabwe at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. 

Hardik Pandya came into the middle on the 13th over of the innings and launched his second delivery over the long-on region as the ball floated over the ropes for a massive six. There was a slight point when he couldn’t get the boundaries off the blade, before he picked the slower ball against Brad Evans and smacked the boundary to break the shackles.

See Also: Watch: Abhishek Sharma celebrates 26-ball half-century in IND vs ZIM T20 World Cup 2026 Super 8s

Tilak Varma supported him equally from the other end, before Hardik disappeared with the slower delivery against Blessing Muzarabani. He swiped it over the mid-wicket region before putting some bat to slice the third delivery for a boundary.

Hardik Pandya gets fifty in 22 balls during IND vs ZIM T20 WC 2026 

On the second ball of the 19th over, Hardik pulled the short ball against Richard Ngarva hard as the ball crossed the rope like a tracer bullet, and there was no chance for the field at deep mid-wicket to stop the ball. On the penultimate ball of the innings, Pandya went deep in the crease, waiting for the mistake of the bowler, and pumped it down the ground for a six.

Watch the video here: 

On 44 and against the last delivery of the innings, Hardik sat up and swung the ball with one hand and dashed it over the backward square region for a massive six as he brought his fifty in just 23 balls. India notched up the second-highest score by a team in the World Cups by putting 256/4.

Apart from him, Abhishek also celebrated a fine knock of 55 runs in 30 balls with the help of four boundaries and as many sixes, while Tilak Varma remained unbeaten on 44 runs in 16 balls with the help of four sixes and three boundaries.

Brief Scores: : India 254/6 (Abhishek Sharma 55, Hardik Pandya 50*, Sikandar Raza 1/29) vs Zimbabwe 25/0 (Brian Bennett 13*)