6 in row no big deal: Sarwan

Very few players could celebrate a birthday the way Ramnaresh Sarwan did, writes Atreyo Mukhopadhyay.

Very few players could celebrate a birthday the way Ramnaresh Sarwan did. Having turned 26 on Friday, the little Guyanese not only scored a hundred, but also became the third man in Test history — after Chris Gayle and Sandeep Patil — to hit six boundaries in an over.

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To the surprise of mediamen after the second day’s play, Sarwan appeared rather nonchalant about his feat. The West Indies vice-captain even refused to rate that over from Munaf Patel as an extraordinary moment.

“To be very honest, there's no special feeling at all. Given the position of the game at that time and my innings, I was thinking only about the 100,” he said.

“I knew that six fours in an over doesn’t happen often, but I was not seriously concerned about it. I was just playing by instinct, trying to stay positive, and at one stage Ganga walked up and said I had hit five fours.”

Ganga said that he had asked Sarwan to go for it if given a chance. “I told him that this opportunity doesn't come often, so smash it if you get a short one.”

But Sarwan was not convinced. “Even after that I didn't tell myself that another four off the last ball (which turned out to be a no-ball) would make it special. I was thinking about being positive against Patel because he is the kind of a bowler who gets the better of you if you let him get on top.”