West Indies batter Nicholas Pooran created history by scoring 36 runs in one over in a T20 World Cup Group Group C match against Afghanistan at the Daren Sammy Stadium in Gros Islet. This was only the fifth instance of 36 runs being scored in an over in the history of T20 cricket. Pooran, who scored 26 runs with the bat, was helped by the five wides, four leg byes and a no-ball bowled by Afghanistan all-rounder Azmatullah Omarzai in the fourth over of the West Indies innings.
Omarzai started the over with a full and wide delivery, which Pooran somehow managed to hit for a six over the third man. The right-arm pacer overstepped in the next ball, which was hit for four. Omarzai’s over went from bad to worse when his next ball went for five wides. It was an attempted bouncer that flew over the keeper’s head. There was no respite for Omarzai as the free-hit stayed. Pooran, however, failed to capitalise on it.
Luck was not on Afghanistan’s side as the third legitimate delivery of the over clipped Pooran’s pads and beat the keeper to go for four leg byes.
Pooran piled on the agony on the Afghans by slamming Omarzai for a four and two sixes in the remaining three balls of the over to etch his name on the history books.
Omarzai became the second Afghanistan bowler after Karim Janat to concede 36 runs in an over in a T20I. Janat was hit for 36 runs by India’s Rohit Sharma and Rinku Singh earlier this year.
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 & Johnson Charles (WI) vs Azmatullah Omarzai (AFG), St. Lucia, 2024
Karim Janat’s over included one extra run, while Omarzai’s included 10 extras (5 wides, a no-ball and four leg-byes)
The West Indies onslaught didn’t end there. After bringing up 50 in 3.2 overs, West Indies raced to 92/1 – the highest powerplay score in the history of T20 World Cups. Pooran and Charles broke the record of the Netherlands, who had scored 91/1 against Ireland in Sylhet in the T20 World Cup 2014.
This was also the fourth-highest powerplay score in all T20Is.
102/0 – SA vs WI, Centurion, 2023
98/4 – WI vs SL, Coolidge, 2021
93/0 – IRE vs WI, St George’s, 2020
92/1 – WI vs AFG, Gros Islet, 2024
Pooran’s one-over brilliance did not end there. He hit Rashid Khan for 24 runs in the 18th over and in the process broke Chris Gayle’s record for most sixes by a West Indies batter in T20Is. Pooran now has 128 T20I sixes compared to Gayle’s 124.
Pooran also became only the sixth batter in men’s T20s to hit more than 500 sixes. He smashed eight sixes and six fours to finish with 98 off 53 balls. A run out prevented him from getting to a well-deserved century. The West Indies, however, ended up with a massive 218/5 in their 20 overs. Apart from Pooran, Charles (43 off 27), Shai Hope (25 off 17), and captain Rovman Powell (26 off 15) made useful contributions with the bat.
Both West Indies and Afghanistan are through to the Super Eight stage.
