3 Indians who have hit 10 or more sixes in an IPL innings

Batting fundamentals such as patience, safety, and textbook techniques have all been replaced by a vastly different mentality of clearing the fence ever since the T20 format was introduced. The art of hitting the ball outside the park for a six is something that every batsman looks to master. Hitting sixes and finding the fence is a no easy task but the batsmen nowadays fearlessly smack the bowlers with extreme ease.

The Indian Premier League is also one of those platforms where the batsmen manage to launch the cricket ball outside the ground with consummate ease. Right from the first match, where Brendon McCullum hit 158 runs in 73 balls with 10 fours and 13 sixes, It was guaranteed that the tournament will feature fireworks by the players. Not only the overseas players like AB de Villiers and Chris Gayle have entertained the crowd with their bat. The Indian Players have also proved their mettle in the championship and have struck enormous number of shots which give half-dozen runs in just one ball.

On the following slides, we will have a look at 3 Innings where 10 or more sixes were hit by an Indian Player in the history of Vivo IPL.

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3. Sanju Samson 92 runs in 45 balls vs RCB 2018 (10 Sixers)

The 11th match of the IPL was played between the Virat Kohli-led Royal Challengers Bangalore and Ajinkya Rahane’s Rajasthan Royals. The match was played at Bangalore's home ground i.e. Chinnaswamy Stadium. Keeping the ground’s reputation in mind, the game was expected to be a run-fest and it was no different.

RCB won the toss and elected to field first. The Rajasthan batsmen were struggling as they lost both their openers under 7 overs. Sanju Samson was promoted up the order at no. 3. Finishers like Buttler and Stokes were also struggling and the young Sanju Samson was burdened with the responsibility of scoring runs for his team and the Kerala batsman took the responsibilities with utter brilliance. It was the festival of Vishu and the Keralite made sure that he ends the auspicious day with a plethora of fireworks, albeit on a cricket field.

Sanju Samson whacked 2 fours and 10 massive sixes in his knock of 92 runs in 45 balls. Even the likes of Umesh Yadav and Chris Woakes were looking clueless in front of this young Indian lad. The Royal Challengers couldn't recover from there and eventually lost the match by 19 runs.

#2 Shreyas Iyer 93 runs in 40 balls vs KKR 2018 (10 Sixers)

It was the 26th match of IPL 2018. Delhi Daredevils, just like their older seasons, weren’t off to a good start in the tournament as they had won just one game in the first six matches. Between all the chaos, Gautam Gambhir decided to step down from captaincy and young Shreyas Iyer was named the skipper of the team. There was immense pressure on the young lad as he was facing Dinesh Karthik’s Kolkata Knight Riders who already had 6 points in their kitty.

KKR won the toss and elected to field first. DD lost their first wicket in the first over and Shreyas Iyer decided to take a brave decision of promoting himself at no. 3. This decision seemed like a foolish gamble taken in over-excitement by an inexperienced captain but little did anyone of us know that this will do wonders for DD.

Coming out to bat as a captain for the first time, the DD captain started his innings with a calm but soon started finding gaps with extreme ease. He brutally dispatched a hapless KKR bowling unit to all parts of Feroz Shah Kotla. The Maharashtra batsman went all guns blazing in the final over of the first innings and scored 29 runs from that over. He ended his innings on the score of 93 runs in just 40 deliveries. His innings was studded with 3 fours and 10 gigantic sixes. The young lad amazed all cricketing fans worldwide with the help of this scintillating knock. The Daredevils posted a huge total of 219 runs in 20 overs. This day also turned out to be a dream captaincy debut for Shreyas Iyer as the opposing team KKR were never in the chase and it all ended in a 55 run - loss for them. Iyer was adjudged the man of the match award as well for such a breath-taking knock.

#3 Murali Vijay 127 runs in 56 balls vs RR (11 sixers)

Chennai Super Kings were hosting the Rajasthan Royals in the 32nd match of IPL 3 at the iconic M.A. Chidambaram Stadium (Chepauk). CSK won the toss and elected to bat first.

CSK were off to a good start as Matthew Hayden and Murali Vijay added 62 runs for the first wicket. After Hayden’s wicket in the 6th over, Murali Vijay started to increase the tempo and soon went all guns blazing from the 12th over. The local boy didn’t look back from there and started clearing the fence at regular intervals. The way he was hitting the ball that day; his bat seemed no less than a magic wand. He simply made people chortle at the bowlers. Aptly supported by Albie Morkel, Vijay crossed the 100 run mark on the first ball of the 18 over as he smashed a length ball down the ground for a four. He went on to achieve a superb 127 off only 56 balls including 8 fours and 11 sixes.

The blitz ended on the 4th ball of the 20th over but the damage was already done by the CSK batsmen as Murali Vijay’s blistering knock and two cameos by Matthew Hayden and Albie Morkel helped CSK to post a mammoth total of 246 runs in 20 overs. RR fought hard in the second innings and were on course to chase the massive total down with Naman Ojha and Shane Watson blistering away but it was disappointing for the blue army fans as their team fell short by 24 runs, giving a memorable win to CSK.

Murali Vijay’s penchant for constructing long, steady innings was now clouded with the perception regarding his ability to deliver the killer blow. He was also awarded the player of the match award for this once-in-a-lifetime knock.