Thursday 28 / November / 2024
Apia : Samoa wicket-keeper batter Darius Visser rewrote history by shattering the record of scoring the most runs in a single over in men's T20I.
During Samoa's match against Vanuatu in the ongoing ICC Men's T20 World Cup Sub Regional East Asia-Pacific Qualifier A event on Tuesday, Visser garnered 39 runs in a single over at Garden Oval No.2 in Apia.
In the 15th over of the Qualifier A match, Visser smacked six towering sixes and was helped with three no-balls from Vanuatu seamer Nalin Nipiko.
He surpassed India's former all-rounder Yuvraj Singh's iconic feat of six sixes that saw him amass 36 runs in a single over off England's Stuart Broad in the inaugural ICC T20 World Cup in 2007 and more recent efforts from Kieron Pollard (2021 - 36 runs), Nicholas Pooran (2024 - 36 runs), Dipendra Singh Airee (2024 - 36 runs).
Visser smashed three consecutive sixes from the first three deliveries of Nipiko's over. He once again cleared the boundary rope from the fourth legal delivery of the over to propel Samoa to a score of hundred.
Nipiko tried to dampen Visser's spirits by producing a dot ball from the fifth delivery of the over. But the 28-year-old continued to ride high on the momentum and smashed a maximum from the third no-ball of the over. To add icing on the cake he finished the over with another six to ensure he broke the record and became the first player from Samoa to score a century in international cricket.
Visser's impressive display was laced with a total of 14 sixes, four short of the most hit by one batter in a men's T20I.
His impact performance of 132 from just 62 deliveries was enough to ensure Samoa registered their second victory at the event. Their triumph kept their hopes of qualifying for the next edition of the T20 World Cup in 2026 alive.
