94:USA's Jaskaran Malhotra equals Herschelle Gibbs' record of 6 sixes in an over in ODI
Cricket is slowly and steadily becoming a global game with so many countries playing the sport on a regular basis nowadays. There has been a significant increase in quality of cricket being played by these nations and a glimpse of the same was seen by everyone on Thursday. USA's Jaskaran Malhotra went absolutely berserk during the 2nd ODI against Papua New Guinea at Al Amerat Cricket Ground in Muskat.
The right-handed batsman produced a heroic knock and broke numerous records during his scintillating century. Jaskaran came out to bat when USA were in a state of bother with the score reading 27/3 in 9.2 overs. The onus was on him to play a solid knock to take his side to a competitive total. However, little did everyone know that the he would go on to etch his name in the history books in next few hours.
Jaskaran scores 173* off 124 deliveries
The 31-year-old did not have a great start to his ODI career, having scored only 55 runs in 6 matches coming into this match. The stage was set perfectly for him on Thursday to make an impact and Jaskaran did not just seize the opportunity but he grabbed it with both hands. The USA middle-order batsman played very smartly in the middle and hit some delightful strokes to put the pressure back on PNG.
Although he kept losing partners at the other end, Jaskaran did not lose his focus as he went on to score his maiden ODI century, becoming USA's first-ever centurion in ODI cricket. It was indeed a memorable moment for the batsman but his team needed him to score few more runs and he did exactly that. The right-handed batsman went on to play an unbeaten knock of 173* off 124 deliveries which included 4 boundaries and 16 sixes. Interestingly, 6 of those 16 maximums came in the final over of the innings.
6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6 - 50th over of USA's innings!
As PNG's Gaudi Toka came to bowl the final over of first innings, USA were hoping for a big over. However, they could not have imagined that it would end up being this big! Jaskaran went on to hit 6 sixes in the over, scoring 36 runs in the 50th over.
From a point when USA were struggling to go past 200-run mark, they ended up posting a huge total of 271/9 in 50 overs courtesy Jaskaran's heroics in Oman.
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Jaskaran becomes only the 4th batsman to achieve this feat
The 31-year-old has now become only the second batsman to achieve this remarkable feat in ODI cricket after former South African batsman Herschelle Gibbs, who had hit 6 sixes off the bowling of Netherlands' bowler Dan van Bunge in 2007.
Notably, Jaskaran has become the 4th cricketer overall to have smashed 6 sixes in an over in international cricket (across all formats) after Herschelle Gibbs, Yuvraj Singh and Kieron Pollard.