An Indian batter playing in the quarter final of a List-A one day tournament has belted seven sixes in an over.
Ruturaj Gaikwad – who played a single ODI for India against South Africa in October – achieved the feat playing for Maharashtra against Uttar Pradesh in Ahmedabad, in the country’s north-west. He is the first player in the game’s history to achieve it.
The bowler was left-arm spinner Shiva Singh, who overstepped with his fifth ball – which got belted over long-off – giving Gaikwad an extra delivery to break another record.
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He went from 165 off 147 to 207 off 154. The 43 runs that came off the over also equalled the record for most conceded in an over.
In what was clearly a day where everything went right for the 25-year-old, he carried his bat as an opener, and finished the innings 220 not-out off just 159 balls including 16 sixes and 10 fours.
Batting first, Maharashtra finished the innings 5-330, with no one else in the team scoring more than 37.
In reply, Uttar Pradesh was bowled out for 272, with Gaikwad taking a catch for the seventh wicket.
Gaikwad is the 10th player to hit six sixes in an over of professional cricket. Garfield Sobers was the first to do it in 1968 in an English county game for Nottinghamshire against Glamorgan.
Other names on the list include Ravi Shastri, Herschelle Gibbs – who achieved his in the 2007 World Cup against the Netherlands – and Kieron Pollard.
Gaikwad scored his first T20I fifty against South Africa in June, before making his ODI debut against them in the following series. He made 19 batting three, and was dropped.
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