Malhotra’s six sixes in an over: Ideally, it is very rare to see history being penned in games of the associates, though, in most cases the associate nations stay at the receiving end. In an incredible moment of the tables turning, Jaskaran Malhotra, the wicket-keeper of the USA, blasted a blistering 173 in the ongoing ODI against Papua New Guinea to rattle a lot of cricketing records.
In his blitzkrieg of 173 runs from just 124 balls, he smashed 4 boundaries and 16 over-boundaries to propel the USA to a staggering 271 for the loss of 9 wickets. Despite the figures already being deemed as overwhelming, he hogged the limelight of the world with another incredible feat as he whacked six sixes in an over.
He became the second cricketer to achieve the feat in One Day cricket after Herschelle Gibbs while in the international circuit, he was the fourth batsman to notch up this rarity after the likes of Yuvraj Singh, Herschelle Gibbs and Kieron Pollard.
Jaskaran Malhotra’s six sixes at a glance
It was the last over of the USA innings and Papua New Guinea shouldered the responsibility of bowling to an economical Gaudi Toka. Toka only conceded 30 runs until then from six overs and seemed to be a fine choice for the final over.
As they say that the dawn shows the day, Jaskran attacked Toka from ball one to clarify his intentions. The first ball was smoked into the stands over long-on, as Malhotra showed no hesitation in picking up a fuller delivery landing in his hitting arc.
The next ball was launched into the off-side, even though, he couldn’t really middle it. The third one was a classic, however, as he effortlessly swung his bat and consigned the delivery to the ropes over long-off. The fourth delivery of the over witnessed Jaskaran doing a little pirouette of his own as he left his stumps for Toka to attack and eventually succeeded in making him bowl in the exact line that he wanted as he smoked into to the stands again.
The fifth ball of the over kissed the sky and took a much loftier route that initially cast its doubts, but it had the much-needed distance and sailed over for the ultimate showdown on the last ball of the over. The last ball from Toka was a gift as he bowled a full-toss to Malhotra, and he blasted it into the leg-side boundary, completing the historic feat that has been achieved very rarely in international cricket.
Men who achieved this historical feat earlier in international cricket
Earlier, Yuvraj Singh racked up this feat in T20 cricket as he peppered Stuart Broad for six sixes in an over in the 2007 T20 World Cup that also spelled the doom for England. Another man to achieve this feat in T20 cricket was Kieron Pollard, who smashed a hapless Akila Dananjaya six times in a row to the ropes earlier this year.
The first-ever cricketer to snap up this herculean feat was the hard-hitting South African batsman, Herschelle Gibbs as he took out Netherland’s Dan van Bunge with extreme prejudice for the historical record of six sixes in an over in the year 2006.
