Picture Credit: BCCI/IPL
In the afternoon match of double-header Sunday on May 4 in the Indian Premier League, the defending champions, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) are hosting Rajasthan Royals (RR) at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. However, the Royals are playing for pride, the Ajinkya Rahane-led side are in a situation that they have to win all their remainging matches in order to earn a qualification into the playoffs.
For the unversed, KKR skipper, Ajinkya Rahane won the toss and elected to bat first. On the back of Andre Russell’s fiery inning of 57* off 25 and crucial knock of 44 from Angkrish Raghuvanshi, KKR posted 206 runs on the board in their stipulated 20 overs. Thereafter, in the run chase, the game looked to go out of the RR’s hands as they were reduced to 75/5 in eight overs.
Riyan Parag smashes Moeen Ali for five consecutive sixes
With Shimron Hetmyer and stand-in skipper Riyan Parag in good touch in the middle, the latter unleashed his prowess in the 13th over, which was bowled by Moeen Ali. Riyan Parag began his onslaught from the second delivery of the Moeen Ali’s over, with which he also brought his first fifty in the ongoing edition.
Ali bowled a slot delivery which Parag cleared it over square leg for a maximum. On the next delivery, Parag smashed the ball over long-on for another maximum. He made in three-in-a-row as he unleashed the length ball once again over long-on for a flat maximum. There seemed to be a no looking back from here as he took the final delivery and dropped it over long-off to clear the fence, bringing five sixes in a row.
On his next delivery, which was second ball of Varun Chakaravarthy’s over, Parag switched his stance and reverse hit it over deep backward point for another maximum, completing six sixes in a row. With this, he became the first batter to hit six sixes in a row in IPL history.
My inner conscience says I’m hitting 4 sixes in an over: Riyan Parag
Soon after Riyan Parag’s onslaught, an old tweet of the batter went viral, which he has posted on March 14, 2023. The tweet read, “My inner conscience says I’m hitting 4 sixes in an over at some point this IPL…”. However, this feat did not come for the young batter in the IPL 2023, but it came to reality in IPL 2024, where he hit Moeen Ali for five consecutive sixes.
