6. 6. 6 (1 no-ball). 6 (1 no-ball). 1 Wide
That is how the 20th over in the Rajasthan Royals innings began. At one point it looked like Jofra Archer may not only match Yuvraj Singh’s record of 6 sixes in an over but break it by hitting 7 or 8.
The thrill was captured by many of Archer’s fans who uploaded the short clips of his game on their Instagram stories, which were later posted by Archer in a series of Instagram stories.
The Rajasthan Royals batsman ended up scoring 30 runs off the final over of the innings to take his team to a mammoth 217.
Also read: History repeats itself as MS Dhoni loses his ‘cool’ against Rajasthan Royals
After the win, Archer stated that “The faster team to adapt usually wins the game,” that was posted by Rajasthan Royals’ official Twitter account.
This is what transpired in that last over bowled by South Africa pacer Lungi Ngidi.
19.1: (6 runs) Lungi Ngidi missed his yorker only to see Jofra Archer hit it straight down the ground for a six. Archer made the shot look effortless.
19.2: (6 runs) Lungi Ngidi bowls a short ball, but the result is the same. Jofra Archers clears his front leg and dispatches the ball over the roof behind midwicket.
19.3: (7 runs) Jofra Archer decides that he is going to go for it, and hits the short of a length delivery over the cow corner for his third six in a row. Turns out it is a big no-ball and Ngidi will have to bowl a free-hit.
19.3: (7 runs) Lungi Ngidi bowls another length ball, and Jofra Archer goes deep into his crease to send the ball flying straight down the ground. A 105m six. The best of the lot. And guess what, it’s another no-ball.
19.3: (1 run) Lungi Ngidi has already given away 26 runs off 2 legal deliveries and decides to bowl a slower delivery wide off the stump. Archer does miss the ball, but the umpire declares it a wide.
19.3: (0 runs) Lungi Ngidi tries another slow ball outside off. Jofra Archer gets right behind the line and tries to swing it for another maximum, but cannot time his shot. First dot ball of the over.
19.4: (1 run) Lungi Ngidi has realised that slow balls are the way to go, and changes his length this time. The short ball cramps Archer up, who can just managed to hit it to long leg for a single.
19.5: (1 run) Tom Curran calmly slaps down a slow short ball to long-off in bid to get Jofra ‘the six hitter’ Archer back on strike.
19.6: (1 run) Another slow, short and wide delivery. The best Jofra Archer can do is hit it to long-off for another single.
Earlier in the innings, Sanju Samson smashed 74 off 32 balls while skipper Steve Smith scored 69 off 47 balls.