Ruturaj Gaikwad may not have had great returns when he played for India in T20s and ODIs, but he is scoring runs for fun in the ongoing Vijay Hazare Trophy. Captain of Maharashtra Gaikwad had a star-making knock in the quarter-finals of the domestic one-day competition against Uttar Pradesh. Not only he scored an unbeaten 220*, which was the third individual score of 200 or more, but also went on to smash 7 sixes in one over, in what was the highest single-over tally (43) in an over in limited-overs cricket.
Gaikwad’s star turnout helped Maharashtra seal a spot in the semis. While Shiva Singh was the unfortunate bowler on the receiving end of the assault. Ahead of the semi-final against Assam, Gaikwad sat down speaking about his whirlwind knock for BCCI website. Gaikwad said that after the fifth six, he soon remembered Yuvraj Singh, who famously hit 6 sixes in an over in 2007 T20 World Cup.
“To be honest, after the fifth six the only one person that crossed my mind was Yuvraj Singh. I had seen him hit six sixes in an over back then when I was very young, in the 2007 (T20) World Cup.
“I wanted be alongside him and that’s why I wanted to go for the sixth one. I never thought any day, or in any dream, that I would be hitting six sixes in a row. It’s a great pleasure, a great feeling to be alongside him (Yuvraj), just match that hype which is there around six sixes in an over or seven in an over,” Gaikwad told bcci.tv
Gaikwad’s feat came in the 49th over of Maharashtra’s innings. The left-arm spinner bowled a no-ball on the fifth ball of the over and hence had to bowl a couple of more and Gaikwad said that having hit six already, he went for the seventh one to maximised what was already a colossal over.
“When I got the sixth one, I thought why not go for the seventh one. I think it was not about hitting six sixes or seven sixes, it was just about trying to maximise that over, make as many runs as possible for the team. That was the basic plan, and thankfully, it happened,” Gaikwad added.
Gaikwad continued his form in the semis as well, scoring 168 against Assam as he helped Maharashtra get to 350/7.
