Hyderabad: On September 19, 2007, former India all-rounder Yuvraj Singh displayed what he is capable of against England pacer Stuart Broad who found himself at the receiving end of his ruthless strokeplay after the latter's teammate's altercation with the Indian southpaw in the inaugural T20 World Cup at Durban in South Africa.
The flamboyant left-hand batter whacked six consecutive sixes off the then 21-year-old and etched his name in record books becoming the only player to hit six sixes in the T20 World Cup and the first in the T20 international cricket. The Indian batter also became the second player to achieve the feat in international cricket after Herschelle Gibbs.
Yuvraj walked into bat with India on 155/3 after 16.4 overs, providing India with a much-needed boost in the death overs. He got a blazing start scoring three boundaries in his first six balls and moved to 14 runs. However, a verbal chat with England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff completely changed his mindset and awakened the sleeping beast inside him.
6⃣6⃣6⃣6⃣6⃣6⃣#OnThisDay in 2007 🗓️, @YUVSTRONG12 created history as he smashed SIX sixes in an over! 🔥 💪#TeamIndia pic.twitter.com/OAKETgKn1I
— BCCI (@BCCI) September 19, 2024
As Broad marked his runup to bowl the penultimate over of the innings, a geared-up southpaw was desperate to go after him as Yuvraj’s flashing willow cut Flintoff’s ego into pieces by the end of this over.
The right-arm pacer ran in to bowl the over, being totally unaware of what he was going to witness which eventually turned out to be the worst nightmare of his life come true right before his eyes. The youngster tried everything, from switching sides to varying his pace, and bowling bouncer to yorker, but the result of every ball was the same as Yuvraj made the boundary ropes disappear, with his massive shots which went soaring into the night sky and landed in the crowd one after the other.
Former Indian cricketer and coach Ravi Shastri made the moment even more memorable with his commentary fitting perfectly with Yuvraj’s assault on Broad. The southpaw launched his six sixes in the regions of cow corner, deep square leg, long off, and deep point, sending the crowd into a frenzy. He returned to the pavilion after his explosive 58 off 16 balls as India went on to score 218/4 in their allotted 20 overs, their first-ever 200+ runs total, and won the match by 18 runs. Yuvraj was deservedly adjudged Player of the Match for his breathtaking innings.
Yuvraj scores fastest fifty in T20Is
With this carnage, Yuvraj registered the then-fastest half-century in T20Is off just 12 balls. Currently, the record for fastest T20I fifty is with Nepal's Dipendra Singh Airee who smashed fifty of just nine balls against Mongolia in the 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games. However, he still holds the record for scoring the fastest fifty in the T20 World Cup.
List of cricketer who hit six sixes in an over
However, apart from Yuvraj Singh, there are around 14 more players who have hit six sixes in an over including domestic (8) and international cricket (6). The first man to achieve this milestone was Sir Garfield Sobers in a County Championship match in 1968. Former India all-rounder Ravi Shastri then became the first Indian to join this list, in 1985 in a Ranji Trophy match while playing for Mumbai (then Bombay) against Baroda.
But the first cricketer achieve this milestone at international level was South Africa's Herschelle Gibbs when he smashed six sixes in an over in an 2007 ODI World Cup. Of late though, this feat has become slightly more common as West Indies' Kieron Pollard achieved the feat against Sri Lanka (T20I) in 2021, Nepal's Dipendra Singh Airee against Mongolia in 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games.
Players who hit six sixes in international matches
| No | Player | Team | Opponent | Tournament |
| 1 | Herschelle Gibbs | South Africa | Netherlands | ODI World Cup (2007) |
| 2 | Yuvraj Singh | India | England | T20 World Cup (2007) |
| 3 | Kieron Pollard | West Indies | Sri Lanka | T20I series (2021) |
| 4 | Jaskaran Malhotra | USA | Papua New Guinea | ODI Series (2021) |
| 5 | Dipendra Singh Airee | Nepal | Qatar | ACC Men’s Premier Cup 2024 |
| 6 | Darius Visser | Samoa | Vanuatu | T20 World Cup East Asia-Pacific Region Qualifier |
