IPL 2020: 3 players who could win the Maximum Sixes Award
The much-awaited schedule of this year’s Indian Premier League (IPL) is out and everybody knows when their favorite teams are playing and at which venue. All the teams have started practicing and there are less than two weeks left for the 13th season of the biggest T20 league to start.
When we talk about the IPL or T20 cricket, the first thing which comes to mind is the big sixes. Even though bowlers are the ones who win matches for teams, everybody wants to see those big sixes. It might be demoralizing for a bowler but that’s what most of the spectators want as entertainment.
So, who are the players who can hit the maximum sixes in this year’s IPL? Let’s look at three potential candidates who can win that award.
3. Rishabh Pant
Rishabh Pant might not have proven himself at the international level but he has surely made a name for himself in the IPL. The Delhi Capitals has backed him and he has delivered from them over the last couple of seasons.
Talking about six-hitting, the young wicket-keeper batsman won the Maximum Sixes Award in 2018 when he smashed 37 sixes in just 14 games. Even in 2019, he was fourth on the list with 27 sixes to his name.
Everybody has seen Pant smash huge sixes against top-quality bowlers in the IPL and the DC team won’t be expecting anything different this year.
If Rishabh Pant gets going, then it is hard to stop him and so he has a chance of winning the Maximum Sixes Award in IPL 2020.
2. Glenn Maxwell
Glenn Maxwell might have been the happiest man when the IPL was shifted to the UAE. His T20 record in UAE is phenomenal. The last time the IPL was held in UAE in 2014, Maxwell scored three 90s and was smashing the bowlers to all parts of the park.
In 2014, in the first half of the tournament, Maxwell scored 300 runs in just 5 games at an average of 60. In that same year, he won the Maximum Sixes Award with 36 sixes in 16 games.
The conditions in the UAE suit a player like Maxwell because he likes to stand and just smash the spinners from his position. Maxwell favors the spinners over the pacers, and with spinners bowling in the middle-overs, it is a perfect place for Maxwell.
If Maxwell has the same impact as he had in 2014, then he has a huge chance of winning the Maximum Sixes Award for the second time.
1. Andre Russell
If you are talking about six-hitting, then you can’t exclude Andre Russell from that discussion. Nobody in the cricketing world hits the ball as hard as Russell. There are only two players in the history of the IPL who have smashed more than 50 sixes in a season, one of them is Chris Gayle and the other is Andre Russell.
In 2019, Rusell smashed almost every bowler as the ball landed over the boundary 52 times in just 14 games. Even though the pitches might be slow in the UAE, it wouldn’t bother a player like Russell because he is just going to use his power.
There is no doubt that Andre Russell can win the Maximum Sixes Award twice in two seasons.