WI vs SA: Nicholas Pooran climbs third spot for most sixes in T20I history

West Indies took on South Africa in the first T20I at the Brian Lara Stadium in Tarouba on August 23. Though the Windies won the game by seven wickets, the night belonged to the power hitter, Nicholas Pooran. South Africa managed to surpass the predicted average first innings score in overcast conditions and posted target of 175 runs for the hosts. 

While chasing, the hosts went barbaric as they accrued 75 runs in the powerplay. Pooran came into bat at number three when the team needed 91 runs in 72 balls. With the game tightly in their grasp, the southpaw broke all hell loose, smashing Nandre Burger for four consecutive sixes in the 12^th over. He then waged a battle against Patrick Kruger and scored 16 runs in three balls of the sixteenth over.

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The stumper-batter saw his team over the line within 18 overs and remained unbeaten on 65 off just 26 deliveries. His inning comprised a mere two boundaries, but a whopping seven maximums and a strike rate of 250. Those seven sixes took Pooran’s six tally in T20Is to 139 in 96 games. He became the third batter with the highest sixes in T20Is, overtaking Australia’s Glenn Maxwell (134), India’s Suryakumar Yadav (136), and England’s Jos Buttler (137).

“I felt (Alick) Athanaze and (Shai) Hope played well. Just had to set the game up. I took on my match ups. The first 10 overs were tricky when SA were batting. But Stubbs and Kruger played well. We always knew we had a chance,” said Pooran after the game.

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For the unversed, now retired from T20Is, India captain Rohit Sharma leads the chart with 205 sixes in 159 games. He is followed by, now-retired, New Zealand’s Martin Guptill, who has 173 sixes in 122 games.