Seven sixes in 43-run over, Ruturaj Gaikwad creates world record
On Monday, Gaikwad finished with 16 sixes, equalling Jaskaran Malhotra, Soumya Sarkar, AB de Villiers and Rohit Sharma on the list of most sixes in a List A individual innings
If you thought six sixes in an over was the zenith of batting dominance, think again. Ruturaj Gaikwad has now raised the bar by hitting a record seven sixes against Uttar Pradesh slow-left arm bowler Shiva Singh—including one off a no-ball—in Ahmedabad on Monday and becoming the first batter in limited-overs cricket to score 43 runs in an over.
Only once before in List A cricket have 43 runs been scored in an over, but by two cricketers—Northern Districts' Joe Carter and Brett Hampton against Central Districts in Hamilton, in 2018. Gaikwad also carried his bat to finish on an unbeaten 220—the 39th double hundred in List A cricket, and the fifth-highest score by an Indian in the format—in the Vijay Hazare Trophy quarter-final that Maharashtra won by 58 runs.
The record for the most number of sixes in an over across all formats is held by a former New Zealand wicket-keeper batter Lee Germon who had struck eight sixes for Canterbury in a highly suspicious over that included 17 no-balls and cost 77 runs, in a first-class game against Wellington during the 1989–90 season.
In international cricket, only four players have hit six sixes in an over—South Africa's Herschelle Gibbs, India's Yuvraj Singh, West Indies' Kieron Pollard and USA's Jaskaran Malhotra. Other cricketers to have hit six sixes in different domestic formats are Sir Garfield Sobers, Ravi Shastri, Ross Whiteley, Hazratullah Zazai, Leo Carter, and Thisara Perera.
On Monday, Gaikwad finished with 16 sixes, equalling Malhotra, Soumya Sarkar, AB de Villiers and Rohit Sharma on the list of most sixes in a List A individual innings, behind Eoin Morgan and Namibia's Gerrie Synman (17) and D'Arcy Short who had hit 23 sixes for Western Australia against Queensland in 2018. Gaikwad’s flourish came pretty late, in the 49th over after Maharashtra were put in to bat by Uttar Pradesh.
Batting on 165 off 147 balls, Gaikwad was gifted a low full toss by Singh first ball of his over that he whacked over wide long-on. Gaikwad followed it up with a huge six over the bowler’s head, clearing his front leg and muscling a shorter ball over deep square leg, then hitting him twice over long-off but Singh overstepped on his fifth delivery. The free-hit was carted over long-on for the sixth six of the over before Gaikwad again deposited Singh over the deep midwicket boundary rope.
Between long-on and deep square-leg, each of the seven sixes came off clean cricketing hits as Gaikwad raced to 207 off 154 balls at the end of that over. Gaikwad ultimately finished on 220 off 159 balls, with 10 fours and 16 sixes. The rest of the Maharashtra batting line-up contributed just 96 from 142 balls.
Riyan, Rishav tons in Assam win
Assam rode hundreds from Riyan Parag (174 off 116 balls) and Rishav Das (114 off 118 balls) to chase down Jammu & Kashmir’s 351 in just 46.1 overs with seven wickets to spare. In other quarter-finals, Karnataka and Saurashtra coasted to comfortable wins.
Quarter-final brief scores:
# Maharashtra 330/5 in 50 overs (Ruturaj Gaikwad 220, Ankit Bawne 37, Azim Kazi 37; Kartik Tyagi 3/66) beat Uttar Pradesh 272 all out in 47.4 overs (Aryan Juyal 159, Shivam Sharma 33; Rajvardhan Hangargekar 5/53, Satyajeet Bachhav 2/52) by 58 runs.
# Karnataka 238/6 in 49.2 overs (Ravikumar Samarth 71, Shreyas Gopal 42) beat Punjab 235 all out in 50 overs (Abhishek Sharma 109, Sanvir Singh 39, Vidwath Kaverappa 4/40) by four wickets.
# Saurashtra 293/8 in 50 overs (Harvik Desai 61, C Jani 52 not out, A Vasavada 51) beat Tamil Nadu 249 all out in 48 overs (R Sai Kishore 74.B Indrajith 53.C Jani 3/53) by 44 runs.
# Assam 354/3 in 46.1 overs (Riyan Parag 174, Rishav Das 114 not out) beat J&K 350/7 in 50 overs (Henan Nazir 124, Shubham Khajuria 120, Fazil Rashid 53) by seven wickets.
