West Indies skipper and swashbuckling batsman Kieron Pollard, who has become the only second player in the history of T20Is to slam six sixes in an over, said that he first thought of slamming sixes of all balls of the sixth over after he sent the third ball over the ropes in Antigua.
Pollard achieved the feat during the first T20I against Sri Lanka in Antigua, which the hosts won by four wickets.
Pollard hit the six sixes off Akila Dananjaya, who also took a hat-trick in the same match. Dananjaya dismissed Evin Lewis, Chris Gayle and Nicholas Pooran off successive deliveries.
“After the third one (when he thought about hitting six sixes in the over) — I felt after hitting a couple of sixes, I understood how the pitch plays,” Pollard said at the post-match presentation ceremony.
“It was important to be positive and play your shots on that pitch, back yourselves to clear the boundary — just happy that I managed to contribute to the team’s cause at that point of time. A couple of things went through my mind before the sixth ball — before the last ball, I thought should I go for the six or take the 30 runs in the over, he went around the wicket and bowled it onto my pads, I told myself ‘Wait Polly, take a chance’. That’s how I have played my cricket all along, especially against the spinners. Today was my day, unfortunate for him (Dananjaya), but this was a good win for our team,” he further said.
Before Pollard, India’s Yuvraj Singh was the only cricketer in T20Is to slam six sixes. Yuvraj had achieved the feat during a group match of the 2007 T20 World Cup in 2007. The left-hander had slammed England pacer Stuart Broad for 36 runs.
West Indies have now taken a 1-0 lead in the three-match rubber and the second contest will be held at the same venue on Saturday.