Who is the only batsman to hit six fours in a single over in Test cricket?
(26 August 2002)
The drawn second Test at Manchester in India's 1982 tour of
England will be remembered primarily for two scintillating
batting efforts - centuries in which runs flowed off the bat with
supreme felicity, scored by batsmen in prime form.
When England batted first, it was first Ian Botham's turn to
occupy centre-stage. The hosts were perched at one time on a
precarious 161 for five, but Botham - accompanied by a stable
Geoffrey Miller at the other end - took England out of the woods,
celebrating his 50th Test by hitting his 10th hundred. Botham
raced to 128 off 169 balls, his first 50 runs coming off only 46
deliveries. Nineteen fours and two sixes thundered off his blade,
and it was this innings that helped England to a giant 425.
India started badly, losing two wickets for eight runs and five
for 136. But Sandeep Patil was perhaps inspired by Botham's
performance, for he himself turned in the performance of a
lifetime. Refusing to be bogged down by the situation, Patil
stroked his way to a sizzling unbeaten 129 off 196 deliveries
with the aid of 18 fours and two sixes.
Six of those fours, remarkably, came off a single Bob Willis
over. With the third delivery being called a no-ball, the
sequence read thus: 4, 4, 4, 0, 4, 4, 4. The sequence was part of
Patil's racing from 73 to 104 off an amazing nine balls,
streaking not only through the nervous 90s but also through the
not-so-nervous 80s and the fairly settled 70s.
Patil's knock - along with Kapil Dev's whirlwind 65 off 55 balls
- helped India draw the Test comfortably and earned the Bombay
player a much-deserved Man of the Match award as well. Botham and
Dilip Doshi - who took six wickets in the first innings - may
have felt a tad aggrieved, but if a world record does not deserve
Man of the Match awards, what does?
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