Just before the IPL 2019 Player Auction, Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan has suddenly knocked the franchises’ door by playing a brilliant innings in the Ranji Trophy. But most importantly, the left-handed batsman hit four consecutive sixes in an over during that knock.
It was the home game for his team Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) against Uttar Pradesh (UP) in the Elite Group C of 2018/19 Ranji Trophy. In the first innings of the game, when his team was struggling, Irfan played a brilliant attacking knock. The left-handed batsman scored 91 runs off just 76 balls with the help of 10 fours and 5 sixes.
During the 66th over of that innings, Pathan hit four consecutive sixes to the left-arm orthodox bowler Saurabh Kumar, who finished with the bowling figure of 18.4-5-90-6. That incident happened during the first four balls of that over while Saurabh conceded a total of 26 runs in that over.
Here is the video of four sixes:
According to CricTracker, Pathan became the fifth batsman in the Indian first-class history to hit at least four consecutive sixes in an over. Ravi Shastri (Bombay) has the record to hit six sixes in an over while the former Tamil Nadu batsman Reuben Paul had hit five consecutive sixes in an over. Apart from them, Yashpal Sharma and Kapil Dev had also hit four consecutive sixes in an over.
Coming to the game, Pathan’s 91 and the skipper Parvez Rasool’s 87 helped the hosts to score 290 runs before getting all out.
In reply, UP was bundled out for just 188 runs. The J&K skipper and off-spinner Parvez Rasool bagged four wickets in that innings while Rinku Singh (66) played the highest knock in that innings.
Despite getting a huge 102-run lead, J&K failed to save the game after getting bundled out for just 111 runs. This time Pathan scored just 8 runs while the highest knock was just 19 by the opener Ahmed Bandy. Saurabh Kumar completed his 10-wicket haul in this game after another brilliant bowling performance of 18-7-28-5 in the second innings.
Chasing down the 214 runs target, UP reached there in successfully after losing four wickets. Suresh Raina (66*) and Rinku Singh (42*) guided their team safely as UP won by six wickets. In the entire game, the left-arm pacer Irfan Pathan didn’t deliver a single ball.
