Ahmedabad, Nov 28: In an unprecedented feat, Maharashtra captain Ruturaj Gaikwad smashed seven sixes in an over to set a List A world record in the Vijay Hazare Trophy here on Monday.
The over, the 49th of the innings, fetched him 43 runs, matching the joint effort of Brett Hampton and Joe Carter off Willem Ludick for Northern Districts against Central Districts in a Ford Trophy game from 2018.
Gaikwad rewrote the record in the penultimate over of his team’s Vijay Hazare Trophy quarter-final match against Uttar Pradesh in Ahmedabad, with Shiva Singh being the bowler. It was a seven ball over because of a no ball.
The record for most sixes in an over (overall) is held by Lee Germon of New Zealand, who clubbed eight maximums during a Shell Trophy match in Wellington.
Left-arm spinner Shiva Singh conceded a no ball in the fifth delivery of the over which was also hit over the boundary ropes at the Narendra Modi Stadium B Ground here.
Gaikwad carried his bat through for a sensational knock of 220 runs in 159 balls, which contained 10 boundaries and 16 maximums. Thanks to Gaikwad’s knock, Maharashtra posted 330 for five after batting first, with his colleagues aggregating only 96 runs.
The first ball was a low full-toss and Gaikwad smoked it over deep midwicket for the first six. The second one was hit straight down the ground, while he cleared deep square leg for his third maximum. The fourth delivery was tonked over long-off, the fifth, a no ball, was played almost in the same direction, and the batter took full advantage of the free hit by hammering it over long-on and reach his double century.
The seventh and final ball was smashed over deep midwicket.
The batter, thus, joined an illustrious list of cricketers who have smashed at least six consecutive sixes in an over, including Sir Garfield Sobers, Ravi Shastri, Herschelle Gibbs, Yuvraj Singh, Ross Whiteley, Haztratullah Zazai, Leo Carter, Kieron Pollard and Thisara Perera.
As far as the bowler on this occasion is concerned, he went for 88 runs in nine overs.
Opting to bowl, Uttar Pradesh were in for a shocker as the Maharashtra skipper went hammer and tongs at the Motera B ground during his knock, propelling Maharashtra to 330.
In reply, wicketkeeper-batter Aryan Juyal led UP’s charge with a 143-ball 159 but it was not enough as they folded for 272 in 47.4 overs.
Rajvardhan Hangargekar picked up a maiden five-wicket haul (5/53) and was the wrecker-in-chief for Maharashtra.
Karnataka pip Punjab
Young pacer Vidwath Kaverappa showed a lot of promise and bagged a career-best 4/40 as Karnataka defeated Punjab by four wickets in a thrilling finish to enter the Vijay Hazare Trophy semi-finals here on Monday.
Karnataka will take on Saurashtra in the semi-finals here on Wednesday.
Young Abhishek Sharma’s knock was the backbone of Punjab innings as he anchored the show with a 123-ball 109, even as wickets kept falling around him.
Punjab were eventually bowled out for a modest 235 in the final delivery, with Kaverappa being the pick of Karnataka bowling. Ronie More took 2/48.
The chase was not easy for Karnataka as Punjab bowlers managed to take the game to the last over where Manoj Bhandage (25 not out) and Krishnappa Gowtham (six not out) sealed the issue with four balls to spare.
Saurashtra knock out TN
Jani was the star for Saurashtra, hammering 52 not out off 31 deliveries and then claimed four wickets to send Tamil Nadu out of the tournament. Apart from him, Harvik Desai (78-ball 61) and Arpit Vasavada (49-ball 51) hit half-centuries, while Jay Gohil, Samarth Vyas, Prerak Mankad, and Jaydev Unadkat made contributions with the bat.
For Tamil Nadu, Sai Kishore and M Mohammed took two wickets each, while Sandeep Warrier, M Siddharth and B Aparajith had a wicket apiece. In the chase of 294, Tamil Nadu lost their in-form openers Sai Sudharsan and N Jagadeesan inside first seven overs and could never recover from that.
Aparajith and Dinesh Karthik, coming in for an injured Shahrukh Khan, failed to get a big score. Baba Indrajith (69-ball 53) and Sai Kishore (92-ball 74) put up some fight through a 113-run stand for Tamil Nadu. But after the duo fell, Tamil Nadu’s resistance was falling and despite Sanjay Yadav and R Sonu Yadav getting a pair of 20s, they were bowled out for 249 in 48 overs.
Parag’s blistering 174 powers Assam past J&K
Riyan Parag smashed a superb 116-ball 174 to help Assam chase down a mammoth target of 351 in 46.1 overs against Jammu & Kashmir in their Vijay Hazare quarter-final here on Monday.
Parag struck 12 sixes and a dozen fours as Assam won the match by seven wickets.
Replying to J&K’s 350 that was built on tons by Henan Nazir 124 (113 balls, 5 fours, 5 sixes) and Shubham Khajuria 120 (84 balls, 8 fours, 8 sixes), Assam slipped to 45 for two before Parag and Rishav Das (114 off 118 balls) got into the act.
The 21-year old Parag was in a belligerent mood and waded into the rival bowling while hitting . He kept finding the ropes and did not hesitate to go over the field.
The right-handed batter’s huge 277-run partnership with Das left the J&K bowlers, who had been impressive through the tournament, clueless.
It was Parag’s third century in the ongoing Hazare Trophy and made a daunting task look easy for Assam. (PTI)
