Thanks to the IPL, India is seeing some attacking cricketers making a fantastic limited-overs debut. Mumbai Indians player Ishan Kishan followed in the footsteps of his franchise teammate Suryakumar Yadav by slamming the first ball he faced in ODI for a six.
Kishan had hoisted a delivery from Dhananjaya de Silva for a straight six in the first ODI against Sri Lanka. Suryakumar had earlier this year smashed the first ball he faced in T20Is for a six against Jofra Archer of England.
Here is the list of all stats on matches or innings starting with a six.
# Suryakumar Yadav is the first Indian and overall, the third cricketer to hit his first ball in T20I for a six. The other two cricketers are Pakistan's Sohail Tanvir and South Africa's Mangaliso Mosehle.
# Ishan Kishan is the first Indian player to hit a six of his first ball on his ODI debut.
Post the match, Ishan said he had already made his mind and informed his teammates beforehand that he will hit the first ball he will face for a six.
"I knew that it was the right time to go for a six on the first ball" - Ishan
You can watch the video of Kishan's first-ball six in ODIs here.
# Chris Gayle is the first batsman in Test cricket history to hit a six off the very first ball of the match. He accomplished this feat against Bangladesh in 2012.
# Virender Sehwag had once hit the first ball of Indian innings in ODIs for a six. He is the third batsman to do so in ODIs. Chasing 360 for a win in the 2nd final of the 2004 VB series, Sehwag smashed the first ball of Indian innings bowled by Jason Gillespie for a six. However, India lost the final, and the best of three finals by a 2-0 margin.
There are two other batsmen who have hit the first ball of their team’s innings for a six. They are Mark Greatbatch of New Zealand against Wasim Akram of Pakistan in 1992. Philo Wallace of West Indies is the other batsman to have done so. He did this against Javagal Srinath of India in 1998.
Other stats
# Michael Clarke of Australia is the first player to hit a 6 in T20Is. He achieved the feat against New Zealand in 2005.
# Ian Chappell of Australia is the first player to hit a six in ODIs. He accomplished this feat against England in 1971.
# Joe Darling of Australia is the first cricketer to hit a six in Test cricket in 1898. It was the first six after 21 years of the first Test match. Darling had hit the ball out of the Adelaide Oval for it to be considered a six as a hit over the boundary was counted as five during that era. Later, the rules were changed to count every hit over the boundary as a six.
Cover image courtesy: Indian cricket team's Facebook page
