File photo of Kieron Pollard.
Kieron Pollard has certainly set the social media on fire on Thursday morning with his mean feat of 6 sixes in an over in West Indies's win over Sri Lanka in Antigua. The special innings now put his in the rare company of Yuvraj Singh and Herschelle Gibbs; the only cricketers to hit six back-to-back sixes in an over.
And the two former cricketers couldn't help but welcome the new entrant into the club with an open arm.
"Welcome to the club @KieronPollard55 #sixsixes you beauty !!!" tweeted Yuvraj.
Gibbs also had rave reviews in store for Pollard.
"1.2.3 @mumbaiindians representing first 3 to hit 6x6s in international cricket. Welcome @kieron.pollard55 #6x6 #goinggoinggone #yuvrajsingh #kieronpollard #mumbaiindians," tweeted Gibbs.
https://twitter.com/hershybru/status/1367341152203124737
South Africa's Gibbs was the first-ever batsman to hit 6 sixes in international cricket when he went after Netherlands' Daan Van Bunge in a group-stage match of the 2007 World Cup.
Pollard's rampage came against Akila Dananjaya in the first T20I between West Indies and Sri Lanka, who had taken a hat-trick in only his previous over.
Dananjaya, who was sent to all corners of the park by Pollard in the sixth over, had become the third Sri Lankan to take a hat-trick in T20I cricket only in his previous over. The hat-trick meant that West Indies were left with 70 runs to chase off 90 balls at the start of the over.
Pollard's feat is also the fifth instance of a batsman hitting six sixes and in an over in T20 cricket. He is also the first batsman from the West Indies to do so in the shortest format of the game. While Yuvraj was the first to do it during the 2007 T20 World Cup, English cricketer Ross Whiteley hit six sixes 10 years later while playing for Worcestershire during the 2017 NatWest T20 Blast.
Afghanistan's Hazratullah Zazai then hit six sixes in the 2018 Afghanistan Premier League after which Leo Carter of New Zealand achieved the feat in a Super Smash match in January 2020.
(With inputs from IANS).
