Kieron Pollard became the only second batsman in the history of T20Is to hit six sixes in an over. He reached the feat during the first T20I against Sri Lanka in Antigua. Pollard, the West Indies captain, slammed the six sixes off Akila Dananjaya. Interestingly, Dananajaya also took a hat-trick in the same match, having dismissed Evin Lewis, Chris Gayle and Nicholas Pooran off successive deliveries.
Pollard hit the six sixes in the sixth over of the match. He was eventually dismissed on 38 off 11 deliveries.
Pollard arrived at the crease after Dananjaya had taken a hat-trick in his previous over. However, the Windies skipper remained unfazed and attacked the Sri Lankan spinner from his very first ball.
He hit Dananjaya all around the park, and after hitting the sixth six of the over, he turned towards the dressing room and bowed to his Windies teammates, as they stood up and applauded the masterclass from their skipper.
Before Pollard, India’s Yuvraj Singh had been the only player in international T20 to slam six sixes. He achieved the feat during the inaugural T20 World Cup in 2007, slamming Stuart Broad for 36 runs in an over in a group match.
Overall, Pollard is the third batsman to hit six sixes in an over in international cricket. South Africa’s Herschelle Gibbs was the first cricketer to achieve the feat, scoring 36 runs in an over against The Netherlands in the 2007 ODI World Cup.
What also is mind-boggling is that in only his last over, Akila had picked up a hat-trick by dismissing the likes of Evin Lewis, Chris Gayle, and Nicholas Pooran on three successive deliveries. It’s the first time that a bowler with a hat-trick in a match went on to concede 6 sixes in the same match in a single over.
As for the match, Sri Lanka had set Windies a target of 132 runs to chase. The hosts only looked in trouble of the chase when Dananjaya hit them hard with a hat-trick.
From being 52 for 0 to 52 for 3, Lanka seemed to have made a comeback in the game but Pollard had other ideas. After his 11-ball 38, Pollard was removed by Wanindu Hasaranga who was the finest bowler for Sri Lanka in the match. Hasaranga claimed 3 wickets while conceding just 12 runs in 4 overs in the match.
