-
Hitting six sixes in an over is seen as the ultimate feat for a batter in short-from cricket.
-
In August 2024, the record for runs in a T20I over was broken by Darius Visser.
-
Since the dawn of T20 cricket, the phenomenon of six sixes in an over has become a bit more familiar.
Across all levels of professional cricket, a batter managing to hit six sixes in one over is incredibly rare. It’s the most rewarding method of run scoring in cricket, and there are plenty of ways for bowlers to stifle the fabled six sixes.
Naturally, the prevalence of scoring six sixes in an over has increased since the advent of T20 cricket and the shift in focus from outlasting an opponent to outscoring them with the bat.
Even with T20 and one-day cricket rising to prominence, there are still precious few batters who have hit six sixes in an over, and the list doesn’t contain as many superstar batters as you may expect.
Getting going with one of the best all-rounders the sport has ever seen, these are the batters who’ve managed to fire for six sixes in a single over of cricket.
Sir Garfield Sobers (1968)
Despite his dismissal of teaching up-and-coming cricketers that hitting sixes was good cricket, Sir Garfield Sobers was the first to hit six sixes in an over.
The writing was on the wall for Sobers to achieve the feat, being a genuine middle-order batsman who could field well, was a skilful bowler, and regularly fired the ball to the boundary with ease.
As the captain of Nottinghamshire staring down Glamorgan bowler Malcolm Nash in a first-class cricket match, Sobers fired the first five balls out of the ground to tee up an unwanted record for Nash on his final ball of the over.
Nash looked to escape the record-breaking ball as Sobers’ shot found a fielder on the boundary. Yet, the fielder couldn’t quite get his feet in place, fell over the rope, and completed the first showing of six sixes in an over.
Ravi Shastri (1985)
Ravi Shastri’s efforts on the cricket pitch have only been outdone by his famed place in the commentary box and as an evidently talented coach at the highest format of the sport.
He makes his way onto this list of cricketers who have hit six sixes in an over for his 1985 exploits against Baroda while batting for Bombay.
Better known as a defensive player, Shastri tonked Tilak Raj’s six balls for a total of 36 runs to etch his name alongside Sobers in the history books.
Herschelle Gibbs (2007)
Once again, it took passing into a second decade for another player to hit six sixes, and this time, it was Herschelle Gibbs for South Africa.
A superb batter who regularly hit the maximum, his record-meeting six sixes came in the 2007 ODI World Cup against the Netherlands.
Daan van Bunge was the unfortunate bowler on the receiving end of Gibbs’ barrage of boundaries, with the 36 runs being the swiftest part of the batsman’s rapid 72 score.
In the end, South Africa would score 353 runs in just 40 overs to beat the Dutch by 221.
Yuvraj Singh (2007)
Facing off in the T20 World Cup, elegant batsman Yuvraj Singh had been given all the fuel he needed to lay down the gauntlet against England, having just been the subject of Andrew Flintoff’s sledging.
The 19th over was given to Stuart Broad, who was tasked with nullifying the potent batter on the South African pitch, but it certainly didn’t go to plan for the towering Englishman.
Singh sent each of the six balls of the over flying into the stands, putting Stuart Broad of all bowlers on a most unenviable list and, perhaps more impressively, quieting Flintoff.
Ross Whitely (2017)
In this 2017 Blast match, the Yorkshire Vikings were flying. David Willey had already smashed the ball all over the field for 118 runs from 55 balls to have the Worcestershire Rapids reeling.
Then, Ross Whitely decided to get in on the action and even overshadow Willey’s haul. Kyle Carver eyed up his wicket, but Whitely dominated the 16th over by hitting 36 runs from the six balls.
Willey would later come into the attack to oust Whitely for 65, and in the end, the Rapids fell short of the Vikings by 37 runs.
Hazratullah Zazai (2018)
Scoring six sixes in an over started to become more commonplace in the 2010s, with Afghan batter Hazratullah Zazai firing for the maximum of maximums in the 2018 Afghanistan Premier League for Kabul Zwanan.
Chris Gayle had already enjoyed a trademark knock, this time scoring a rapid 80 runs, getting Kabul to 245 runs to set up a competitive game with the Balkh Legends.
Then stepped up Abdullah Mazari to try to take out Zazai, but instead, the batsman clocked all six balls for sixes and grabbed an extra run from a misfire from the bowler, ending the over with 37 runs.
Zazai’s six sixes in an over would help him to equal the record held by Gayle and Yuvraj of hitting 50 runs in 12 balls, and yet, Kabul would lose the game to Balkh.
Still active for the increasingly dangerous Afghanistan national team, Zazai’s batting heroics keep him a popular choice in the cricket betting when major international tournaments roll around.
Leo Carter (2020)
Over in New Zealand, competing in the Super Smash competition, Leo Carter and the Canterbury Kings were chasing 220 runs in their 20 overs.
The Northern Knights had set a decent total, and luckily for Canterbury, Carter stepped up to end his time in the crease with 70 runs off of 29 balls.
Key to this tally was Carter’s superb six sixes in an over, which seemingly came out of the blue, given his overall batting figures.
Kieron Pollard (2021)
Kieron Pollard’s six sixes in an over may have come at a time when, comparatively speaking, the feat was more commonplace, but what marks Pollard’s as unique is that it was done in an international match.
Not since Singh 14 years prior had any batter gone for a maximum of maximums in international cricket, but Pollard did exactly that for the West Indies against Sri Lanka to become the third batter to do so.
The six sixes of Pollard were even more unlikely than the rest on this list, given how well Akila Dananjaya had been playing. In his last over before this catastrophic spell, Dananjaya nailed a hat-trick.
You can still spot Pollard getting on the pads in short-form cricket, including the shortest form.
His presence in The Hundred has certainly swayed many a bet builder towards the Southern Brave and the London Spirit prior.
Thisara Perera (2021)
The trend was certainly building towards this, but that shouldn’t take away from Thisara Perera’s mighty six sixes in an over to make for the second of such occurrences in one year.
The all-rounder batting in a List-A game for Army Sports CC nailed a perfect over, which made him the first Sri Lankan to achieve the feat and got him the second-fastest half-century in List-A with 52 runs from just 13 balls faced.
Jaskaran Malhotra (2021)
The season of six sixes didn’t end with Perera’s knock. In September 2021, during the ODI Series between the United States and Papua New Guinea, Jaskaran Malhotra joined this list.
Coming in at number five, Malhotra returned to the US national team after two years to not just hit the country’s first-ever ODI century, but also collect six sixes from Gaudi Toka’s fateful over.
Darius Visser (2024)
Playing in a regional qualifier for the 2026 T20 World Cup, Darius Visser made history for Samoa and in international cricket for his stellar knock against Vanuatu.
By finishing with 132 runs from 62 balls, Visser became Samoa’s first ever player to hit a century in an international cricket match.
A big part of that haul of runs came from the 15th over, in which Nalin Nipiko endured a particularly trying spell with the ball in hand.
Not only did Visser hit six sixes from six balls, but three more were no-balls, and another was a dot-ball, bringing the grand score for the over to a record-breaking 39 runs.
*Credit for the main photo belongs to Adobe*
