Ruturaj Gaikwad, the Maharashtra captain and opener, starred with the bat on Monday in Ahmedabad in the Vijay Hazare Trophy quarter-final against Uttar Pradesh by hitting spinner Shiva Singh for 7 sixes in an over! Yes-7 sixes in an over.
Called up to bowl the penultimate over of Maharashtra’s innings to a well-set Ruturaj Gaikdwad, Shiva Singh had a nightmarish over, one which he’d like to forget quickly, but won’t be able to.
6,6,6,6,6nb,6,6 – read Shiva Singh’s over that included a no-ball. Gaikwad smoked every delivery of the extended 7-ball over for a sixer.
The Chennai Super Kings opener Ruturaj Gaikwad finished on unbeaten 220 runs scored from 159 balls. He stroked 10 fours and 16 sixes in his blistering innings, 7 of those sixes were in one single over.
Left-arm spinner Shiva Singh finished with figures of 0/88 in 9 overs. The spinner tried everything he had but Gaikwad’s rampage couldn’t be halted. Over the wicket, around the wicket, flighted delivery, full length, faster speeds, slower speed – everything was slogged for a maximum by the Maharashtra opener.
At the start of the over 49th, Maharashtra’s scoreboard read 272/ 5; at the end, after Ruturaj Gaikwad’s magnificent hitting of 7 sixes in a 43-run over, the score jumped to 315/5. Maharashtra finished at 330/5. It was largely a one-man show from Ruturaj Gaikwad, with the rest of the Maharashtra batters scoring 96 runs from 142 balls; the second-highest score in Maharashtra’s innings was 37.
Talking about the records, the total of 43 runs from Shiva Singh’s one over is now the joint-most expensive over in List-A cricket, and the 43 runs are the highest runs in a single over in List-A cricket – matching the combined effort of Brett Hampton and Joe Carter, against the bowling of Willem Ludick, for Northern Districts against Central Districts in a Ford Trophy game in Hamilton in 2018, and the over read: 46nb6nb61666.
Gaikwad also equaled the record of Rohit Sharma, for hitting the most number of sixes (16) in a single List-A innings.
His 220* is the fifth-highest score by an Indian in List-A cricket The top score in that list, Tamil Nadu opener N Jagadeesan’s 277, was also recorded at this year’s Vijay Hazare Trophy, against Arunachal Pradesh.
