MUSCAT: Nepal batsman Dipendra Singh Airee became just the third man to hit six sixes in one over in a T20 Inter­national match when he achieved the feat against Qatar in Al Amerat on Saturday.

He joins India’s Yuvraj Singh, who made his runs off England’s Stuart Broad in Durban in the 2007 World Cup, and West Indian slugger Kieron Pollard who hammered Sri Lanka’s Akila Dananjaya in Antigua in 2021.

South Africa’s Herschelle Gibbs and Jaskaran Malhotra of the US have achieved the feat in one-day international cricket while no one has ever done it in Test cricket.

Airee was on 28 from 15 balls, and Nepal on 174 for 7, when medium pacer Kamran Khan began the final over of the innings in the ACC Men’s Premier Cup match.

The next six deliveries were all deposited over the ropes as Airee finished on 64 not out from 21 balls.

Nepal, who will appear in their second T20 World Cup later this year in West Indies and the US, closed on 210-7 which was enough to beat Qatar by 32 runs.

It was the second time that Airee, 24, has hit six successive sixes. He achieved it against Mongolia in their Asian Games meeting in Hangzhou in September, but on that occassion the six sixes were spread across two overs.

Nepal begin their T20 World Cup agai­nst the Netherlands in Dallas on June 4. They will also play group games against South Africa, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

Published in Dawn, April 14th, 2024