Mumbai: Indian all-rounder Hardik Pandya expressed happiness at his return to competitive cricket during the DY Patil T20 Cup being held in Mumbai. Pandya made a triumphant return to competitive cricket on Monday since the ICC Cricket World Cup with a match-winning spell for Reliance 1 in the 18th edition of DY Patil T20 Cup 2024 at the DY Patil Stadium on Monday. Taking to X (formerly Twitter), Pandya wrote, “Glad to be back doing what I love.” Having not played any international cricket following the World Cup stage match against Bangladesh back in October due to an ankle injury, Pandya led from the front as he picked up two wickets for 22 runs as Reliance 1 restricted BPCL to 126 in 18.3 overs after opting to field. The other wicket-takers for Reliance were Dev Lakra (3-31) and Piyush Chawla (3-15). Anukul Roy was the top-scorer for BPCL with an unbeaten 30. In their response, Reliance was well served by a 51 run opening stand between Naman Dhir and Nehal Wadhera (50: 32b, 11x4). There was a middle-order collapse as Reliance slipped from 87 for one to 113 for eight. Pandya held himself back in the order and came into bat late in the order after the fall of the eighth wicket. Pandya (3* in four balls) and Chawla then teamed up to lead Reliance to a hard-fought two wicket win.
