Ravindra Jadeja hits six sixes in an over, joins elite list

Courtesy: PTI

New Delhi: He is out of the limited-overs sides for some time but, Ravindra Jadeja put the national selectors in a spot of bother by hitting six sixes in an over, albeit in a inter-district T20 tournament on Friday (December 15).

Opening the batting for Jamnagar against Amreli at the Saurashtra Cricket Association stadium yesterday, Jadeja smashed a 69-ball 154 to lead his side to a comfortable 121-run win.

Also watch: 'Ignorant' Ravindra Jadeja leaves everyone in splits in Delhi on the eve of his 29th birthday

In the 15th over of the innings, the 29-year-old treated offspinner Nilam Vamja with disdain, hitting all six balls over the boundary. He thus joined an elite list of batsmen who have hit six sixes in an over.

He is the third Indian to achieve the feat, after Ravi Shastri and Yuvraj Singh. The current India coach, playing for Mumbai, hit left-arm spinner Tilak Raj, in a Ranji Trophy match in 1985. He was then the second player to do so, after Garfield Sobers, who did it for Nottinghamshire against Glamorgan, in 1968 in a first-class match. The unlucky bowler was Sobers' fellow West Indian Malcolm Nash, a left-arm medium pacer.

Then, in 2007, South Africa's Herschelle Gibbs joined the list with six sixes against Daan van Bunge of Netherlands in a World Cup match. India's eternal World Cup star Yuvi was the next one. Many claimed that the Indian left-hander punished England pacer Stuart Broad for Andrew Flintoff's fault. That 2007 World T20 match has already become a folklore in the game's modern era.

Jadeja, in his 69-ball knock, hits 10 sixes and 15 fours to set up a huge total of 239/6.

His knock arrived at just the perfect time ahead of India's tour of South Africa, for a full series comprising of three Tests, six ODIs and three T20Is.

The all-rounder has been included in the squad but earlier skipper Virat Kohli had admitted that there's no guarantee that both Jadeja and his spin twin R Ashwin will play every game.

But the fighter in Jadeja is keeping things simple by playing good cricket.