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Kieron Pollard is one of the many giants of cricket from the West Indies. Not only for his physique in the literal sense, but because of his batting skills. The tall, bulky all-rounder is renowned in the cricket world for his unbelievable power-hitting abilities effortlessly, especially in the limited overs format.
Hitting huge sixes is one of his many forte. On this day in 2021, Kieron Pollard became only the third batter to hit six sixes in an over in international cricket.
Sri Lanka were touring the West Indies to play a three-match T20I series, three-match ODI series and a two-match Test series. The tour had commenced with the T20I series. The first T20I was played at the Stanford Cricket Ground. Skipper Kieron Pollard won the toss and opted to bowl.
His decision paid off as his bowlers did a fine job to restrict Sri Lanka to a below-par 131/9 in their 20 overs. While Pathum Nissanka was the highest scorer for Sri Lanka with a 39 off 34 balls, all the West Indies’ bowlers shared nine wickets among themselves.
Drama unfolded in the chase. West Indies were off to a flyer, scoring 52 for no loss within three overs. First came Akila Dananjaya, who brought a major halt to the West Indies’ innings by bagging a brilliant hat-trick. He dismissed Evin Lewis, Chris Gayle, and Nicholas Pooran in three consecutive deliveries to cause a mini collapse.
Now came Kieron Pollard. Akila Dananjaya’s joy was short-lived, as Pollard smashed him in his very next over for six consecutive sixes, to suddenly accelerate West Indies’ scoring rate. The Men in Maroon eventually won the match in 13.1 overs. It was a night of extremes for Dananjaya, as his hat-trick was eclipsed with him conceding 36 runs in an over.
Kieron Pollard with this feat, joined India’s Yuvraj Singh as only the second batter to have struck six sixes in an over in T20Is. In the 50-over format, this feat was first achieved by South Africa’s Herschelle Gibbs in the 2007 World Cup against the Netherlands.
