During Sunday’s round of Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 matches, Baroda’s Hardik Pandya scripted history by slamming five sixes and a four in the 19th over of their match against Delhi. Akash Sudan, a medium pacer playing only his second T20 match for Delhi, has gone down as an unfortunate part of history – conceding 39 runs in an over, the most expensive over in all of T20 cricket history.
Also read: Hardik Pandya: The all-rounder India was looking for
Delhi did manage to win the match in the end, but the carnage inflicted upon Sudan by Pandya will go down as one of the harshest lessons ever handed to a young cricketer on the cruel nature of the game of T20 cricket. Sudan, who had enjoyed figures of 2/8 in his first three overs, was given the responsibility of bowling the 19th over, only to make a mess of his records.
The first ball was dispatched over long-on. The second ball went for four byes but Pandya reckoned he had "nicked" it. Sudan followed up with a slower one, but Pandya tonked it over the cow corner. The next ball, a no-ball, went over midwicket for a third six. Then came a four through the same area and followed by a six over long-on. Sudan dug the final delivery in short and Pandya slapped it confidently over long-off.
A record 39 runs had been scored off the over. The previously standing record had been 38, scored by Scott Styris in 2012. 34 runs off the 39 were credited to Pandya’s bat.
Big hitting comes naturally to me: Pandya
Pandya’s unbeaten 81 off just 51 balls powered Baroda to 153 for 6. “I had planned to go all out in the 19th over as our total was just 93 for 6 before the start of the penultimate over. I hit a six over long-on off the first ball and edged the second ball, but they were given as four byes. The third ball again went for a six and I was confident of clearing the fence,” Pandya told BCCI.TV.
“I had not heard of any bowler conceding 39 runs in an over before, so I knew it was going to be a world record. Big hitting comes naturally to me. Many people might have been surprised by what happened, but for me it was normal.”
Interestingly, Pandya’s feat came on the anniversary of the day when Ravi Shastri had smashed six sixes in an over 28 years ago.
Asked if he felt he could send all the six balls out of the park, Pandya said, “Even if you are looking to smash every ball, you are bound to miss at least one even if it is a length ball. I would have ended up with six sixes had the ball (free-hit) not landed inches inside the boundary rope.”
Video of the historic over:
Hardik Pandya create history scoring 39 runs of one over in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. #T20 #Domestic #AllRounder
Posted by Hardik Pandya on Sunday, January 10, 2016
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