Playing his part in the most expensive over in T20 International cricket history, Nicholas Pooran became part of history. Pooran’s brutal assault on Afghanistan’s Azmatullah Omarzai during their final Group C match against them in St Lucia at the Daren Sammy Cricket Stadium resulted into a woeful 36 runs being conceded by the Afghan cricketer.
On the evening he hit eight sixes, thus becoming the first ever West Indies’ cricketer to score 2000. T20I runs along with beating Chris Gayle’s previous record of maximums scored for West Indies in T20Is. He now has 128 sixes while Chris Gayle had previously hit 124 for West Indies.
After four overs, West Indies was cruising with a score line of 73/1 having Pooran and Johnson Charles at the crease as batting first after they were put into bat by Afghanistan captain Rashid Khan.
Azmatullah Omarzai received punishment from Pooran during his fourth over bowled. The left-hander bombarded him with a series of boundaries and maximums.
That particular over, bowled by Azmatullah Omarzai saw it leak an astonishing 36 runs thereby joining one of the most memorable overs in T20 International cricket. While leading this charge; Pooran slammed some scorching strokes that left both Afghanistan bowlers and spectators mesmerized.
The breakdown for this over is as follows: starting with a six, followed by another maximum. A boundary, leg byes for four runs, a no-ball resulting in a boundary, five wides, and concluding with another six.
It is worth mentioning that there were ten extras within this spell including five wides (2). One no-ball (3) and four leg-byes (5) which accounted for 36 points earned through this over.
This boosted their run rate as well as brought up fifty partnership between poor Johnson Charles and Nicholas Pooran in only 14 balls.
Pooran joined a select group of cricketers who have scored 36 runs in an over in T20 internationals such as Yuvraj Singh, Kieron Pollard, Rohit Sharma, and Dipendra Singh Airee. Notably, Omarzai’s over included ten extras which saw the total rise to 36.
Most runs in one over in T20Is
36 – Yuvraj Singh (IND) vs Stuart Broad (ENG), Durban, 2007
36 – Kieron Pollard (WI) vs Akila Dananjaya (SL), Coolidge, 2021
36 – Rohit Sharma & Rinku Singh (IND) vs Karim Janat (AFG), Bengaluru, 2024
36 – Dipendra Singh Airee (NEP) vs Kamran Khan (QAT), Al Amerat, 2024
36 – Nicholas Pooran (WI) vs Azmatullah Omarzai (AFG), St. Lucia, 2024
With his extravagant batting skills he reached his fifty off just thirty one deliveries leading. West Indies to set a daunting target for their opponents. By the end of the innings the left-hander had made ninety eight runs from fifty three balls including six fours and eight sixes. For West Indies they left Afghanistan with a target of two hundred eighteen runs.
