Sir Garfield Sobers to Yuvraj Singh: Every batter who has hit Six Sixes in an over

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KEY TAKEAWAYS:​

• Sir Garfield Sobers was the first player to hit six sixes in an over, back in 1968.
• Yuvraj Singh's assault on Stuart Broad in 2007 remains the most famous instance.
• Ravi Shastri commented on two separate six-six overs after achieving it himself.

Sir Garfield Sobers to Yuvraj Singh: Players who have achieved unique feat of hitting six sixes in an over​

Hitting six sixes in a single over is cricket's equivalent of snooker's maximum 147 break, a semi-mythical feat that remains rare even in the fearless age of T20 batting. It demands power, timing and nerve in equal measure across six deliveries.

The achievement has taken on fresh poignancy this week with the passing of Sir Garfield Sobers at the age of 89, the man who authored the very first instance and lent the feat its enduring aura. Cricket has lost its greatest all-rounder and its original six-six pioneer.

Some 17 years separated the first and second occurrences of the feat in first-class cricket, and it has since been achieved in ODIs, T20 internationals and domestic leagues around the world.

The perfect Test match over, however, remains unconquered to this day. Here is every batter to have managed it in top-level cricket.

MORE: BCCI share throwback video of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli to pay emotional tribute to Garfield Sobers

Every batter who has hit Six Sixes in an over​

Sir Garfield Sobers​

The flamboyant West Indian all-rounder was the first player to achieve the feat, on 31 August 1968. Captaining Nottinghamshire against Glamorgan, Sobers took on the bowling of Malcolm Nash, who could scarcely have imagined the over would come to define his cricketing legacy.

Sobers struck five clean blows for six before the sixth was caught on the boundary. Glamorgan's relief proved fleeting, however, as fielder Roger Davis carried the ball over the rope, confirming the first over in history to be hit for six sixes and cementing its mythical status.

Ravi Shastri​

On 10 January 1985, Shastri, more commonly known as a defensive batter, became the second cricketer to accomplish the feat. Playing for Bombay against Baroda, he clubbed left-arm spinner Tilak Raj for 36 in a single over in the Ranji Trophy.

Shastri's connection with the feat did not end there. The now-renowned commentator would go on to call the action from the box on two separate occasions when the milestone was reached again, a remarkable quirk that ties him to the achievement more closely than anyone.

MORE: Rohit Sharma ODI record at Lord's: Tracking India star's stats at home of cricket

Herschelle Gibbs​

For Gibbs, hitting six sixes seemed almost written in the stars. South Africa's most explosive batter of his era achieved it during the 2007 World Cup, launching the Netherlands' Daan van Bunge for the full complement of maximums with breathtaking, flat-hitting brutality.

Gibbs remains the only man to have completed the feat in a 50-over World Cup match and was the first to achieve it in international cricket. His assault stood as a landmark moment, proving the once-impossible could be done on the sport's biggest stage.

Yuvraj Singh​

Few will ever forget Singh's assault on England and a hapless Stuart Broad during the inaugural World T20 in 2007. Fired up after a heated exchange with Andrew Flintoff, Yuvraj channelled his fury into the most iconic six-six over the game has seen.

With exquisite timing and shot selection, he dispatched a shell-shocked Broad over the Kingsmead boundary six times in succession, barely breaking sweat. Fittingly, Shastri was again behind the microphone, capturing a moment that will be remembered for as long as the game is played.

MORE: BCCI dismisses rumours of Rohit Sharma's retirement at Lord's

The domestic and modern additions​

Several batters have since joined this exclusive club. Worcestershire's Ross Whiteley managed it off Yorkshire's Karl Carver in the 2017 T20 Blast, while Afghanistan's Hazratullah Zazai bludgeoned Abdullah Mazari in the Afghanistan Premier League soon after.

New Zealand's Leo Carter achieved the feat in the 2020 Super Smash, before Kieron Pollard managed it for West Indies against Sri Lanka in March 2021, becoming the first to do so in an international over since Yuvraj. Remarkably, Sri Lanka's Thisara Perera followed just weeks later in a List A fixture.

A feat that honours its founder​

There is something fitting about revisiting this list in the days after Sobers' death. The record began with him in 1968, an act of audacity that felt decades ahead of its time, and every batter who has since matched it owes a debt to that summer evening in Swansea.

Sobers spent his career redefining what was possible with bat and ball, and the six-six over was merely one flourish among many. That the modern game produces such moments with growing regularity is a testament to the standard of fearlessness he set more than half a century ago.

The one frontier that remains is Test cricket, where no batter has managed the feat. Should it ever fall, it will belong to a lineage that began with the great Sobers, a fitting way to keep the name of cricket's finest all-rounder alive for generations still to come.


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