IPL 2018: Three batsmen with 10+ sixes in an innings without a century
We're already halfway into IPL 2018 and we have witnessed some thrilling encounters. From 200+ totals being chased down with ease to low scores being defended quite well.
From top class innings to game-changing spells. The IPL has had it all this season and it promises to get better in the coming days.
In just 27 odd games, we have encountered some swashbuckling knocks by some of the big names in world cricket.
With players like Chris Gayle, Shane Watson and AB De Villiers, there's sure to be some fireworks. But even young players like Shreyas Iyer, Sanju Samson and Prithvi Shaw have proved their mettle in the shortest format of the game with some serious ball striking this season.
Hitting sixes is no easy task but nowadays players pack a punch and hit them with such fluency.
The IPL this year has come across three masterclass innings where 10+ sixes were hit by an individual batsman. 10+ sixes?
That's surely happened in the past, right? Yes, it has. In the previous ten editions of the IPL, we have seen nine such instances where 10+ sixes were hit.
Gayle alone was involved in four of those. But in the past, those sensational innings yielded in the batsmen making a hundred.
These three innings didn't and all of them happened in this season.
Let's take a look at the three innings where 10+ sixes were hit by a single player without ending up with a century.
#1 Andre Russell - 88 off 36 (11 sixes)
The man from Jamaica has been a vital cog in this Kolkata Knight Riders’ setup. Whenever needed, he comes out all guns blazing and can win you games single-handedly. Well, he almost pulled off a win for KKR at the Chepauk a couple of weeks back.
Batting first, KKR were reeling at 89 for five and the end of 10 overs. It didn't look good for them but Russell walked in at No.7 believing he could take his team to a respectable score. What transpired thereafter was a pure masterclass.
He walloped the bowlers to all parts of the ground and stunned all the CSK supporters who came to see their team play after a two-year gap.
The big hits kept coming in and it never looked like stopping. Russell ended up with an unbeaten 88 off just 36 balls which were studded with 11 humongous sixes and one four. In the end, his efforts went in vain as CSK pulled off a sensational win.