Jadeja hits six sixes in an over
NEW DELHI: India all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja hit six sixes in an over on way to a 69-ball 154 during an inter-district T20 tournament in Rajkot on Friday.
Jadeja, who holds the record of hitting three Ranji Trophy triple centuries, turned out for Jamnagar against Amreli in the opening match of the Saurashtra Cricket Association (SCA) inter-district T20 tournament.
According to a report on Espncricinfo, Jadeja lifted offspinner Nilam Vamja for six consecutive over-boundaries in the 15th over.
Opening the batting, Jadeja batted till the 19th over when he was run out. By then he had already scored 15 boundaries and 10 sixes.
His whirlwind innings helped Jamnagar reach 239/6 on way to a 121-run defeat of Amreli in their first match at the Saurashtra Cricket Association ‘ B’ ground in Rajkot.
Rested for the limited-overs series against Sri Lanka, Jadeja seems to be making best use of any practice available ahead of the tour of South Africa set to start later this month.
The innings also served a reminder that even though selectors are not too keen on picking him for limited-overs internationals, Jadeja hasn’t lost touch with the art of piling quick runs.
With this feat, Jadeja has joined the likes of Sir Garfield Sobers, Ravi Shastri, Herschelle Gibbs, Yuvraj Singh and Alex Hales in an elite list.
Among them, only Yuvraj (against England’s Stuart Broad during the World T20 in 2007) and Gibbs (against Holland’s Daan Van Bunge in the 2007 World Cup) have achieved this landmark i n i nternational matches.
Shastri had hit six sixes in a row against left-arm spinner Tilak Raj in a Ranji Trophy match against Baroda in 1984.
Sobers, turning out for Nottinghamshire, did it against Glamorgan’s Malcolm Nash in 1968.
Coincidentally, it was for Nottinghamshire again in 2015 that Hales achieved this mark, against Warwickshire in the Natwest T20 Blast.
West Indian Kieron Pollard and Lanchashire batsman Jordan Clark hold similar records, though like Jadeja, they too came in lower-rung games.
Pollard had hit six sixes during an Adelaide Strikers trial game in 2014. Clark had hit six sixes during a second XI match in Scarborough in 2013.
EVEN THOUGH THE SELECTORS ARE NOT TOO KEEN ON PICKING HIM FOR LIMITEDOVERS INTERNATIONALS, JADEJA HASN’T LOST TOUCH WITH THE ART OF PILING QUICK RUNS.