Published 16:25 IST, July 28th 2020
Garfield Sobers' 6 sixes in an over that inspired Ravi Shastri, Yuvraj Singh; watch video
Former West Indies all-rounder Garfield Sobers struck 6 sixes in an over in 1968. His feat was later emulated by former cricketers Ravi Shastri & Yuvraj Singh.
- SportFit
- 2 min read
Former West Indies captain Garfield Sobers is widely considered among the game’s greatest all-rounders of all time. Having played 93 Tests, the Barbados-born cricketer scored over 8,000 runs and bagged 235 wickets. At the age of 21, Garfield Sobers scored 365* against Pakistan in 1958, which was also Test cricket’s highest individual score at the time.
Moreover, he was also the first cricketer in the world to smack six sixes in an over, something which he accomplished for Nottinghamshire against Glamorgan in an English County match in 1968. The incredible Sobers 6 sixes feat was later emulated by former Indian cricketers Ravi Shastri and Yuvraj Singh.
The former West Indies all-rounder turned 84 on Tuesday, July 28. To commemorate the Garfield Sobers birthday occasion, here is a look at his six-hitting assault from 1968 at St. Helen's in Swansea.
Throwback to Garfield Sobers 6 sixes on his 84th birthday
Garfield Sobers was signed on as a non-English player for Nottinghamshire in late 1967. He remained associated with the side till 1974. On August 31, 1968, i.e. in his first English County season itself, he created history by breaking a 57-year-old record of scoring most runs in an over. By employing an adventurous hard-hitting display, Garfield Sobers struck 6 sixes in an over off the bowling of Glamorgan bowler Malcolm Nash.
Garfield Sobers birthday: Sobers 6 sixes in an over, watch video
Six-hitting adventures of Ravi Shastri and Yuvraj Singh
During the 1984-85 Indian domestic season, i.e. nearly 17 years after Sobers 6 sixes, former Indian all-rounder Ravi Shastri achieved the same feat while playing for Bombay (now Mumbai). The cricketer-turned-coach did so in a match against Baroda.
Interestingly, the rare achievement was also pulled off for the first time in international cricket in 2007 by two cricketers, Herschelle Gibbs and Yuvraj Singh. While Gibbs scored 36 off an over against an Associate nation during the 2007 World Cup, Yuvraj Singh clubbed Stuart Broad all over the park in the T20 World Cup later that same year itself. Interestingly, Singh’s six sixes were witnessed and narrated on air by none other than Ravi Shastri himself.
Image credit: Garfield Sobers image from ICC Twitter
Updated 16:25 IST, July 28th 2020