Kabul: Afghanistan's Hazratullah Zazai became only the third batsman to hit six sixes in an over in a Twenty20 match, for Kabul Zwanan against Balkh Legends in the Afghanistan Premier League 2018.
Zazai opened the Kabul batting with his team chasing a mammoth 245 for victory,
courtesy Chris Gayle's 48-ball 80. He laid into Abdullah Mazari in the fourth over of the
innings, hitting all the balls in the over for sixes, as 37 runs came of the over that also had
one wide ball.
As a result of Zazai's belligerence, Kabul raced to 70 for no loss in just four overs and
looked good to push Balkh to the wire. In the process, Zazai also brought up his half-century
off just 12 balls, equalling the record for the fastest T20 half-century jointly held by Yuvraj
Singh and Gayle, an ICC report on Monday said.
While Singh had hit a 12-ball 50 against England in the ICC World T20 2007 when he had
smashed Stuart Broad for six sixes in an over, Gayle had achieved this feat batting for
Melbourne Renegades against Adelaide Strikers in the Big Bash League 2016.
Zazai's efforts could not, however, take his team to victory, as Kabul were restricted to
223/7 in their 20 overs with Zazai making 62 off just 17 balls with four fours and seven
sixes. He was caught by Gulbadin Naib off the bowling of Ben Laughlin, who ended with
three wickets.
The 20-year-old Zazai, who recently made his one-day international debut against Ireland,
called it a "proud moment". "It is a very enjoyable moment for me that my name is now linked
to so many big names of the game, who are really legends of the game," he said after the
match.
"It was a surreal moment for me to perform in front of my idol (Gayle). I was just trying to
play my natural game and did not in any way think of outshining anyone," he said.Worcestershire batsman Ross Whiteley had also achieved the feat in T20s when he
slammed Yorkshire spinner Kark Carver for six sixes in a domestic match in 2017.
In other competitive cricket, Sir Garfield Sobers, Ravi Shastri and Herschelle Gibbs are
the three men to have sent all deliveries of an over across the boundary line.(UNI)
