Al Amerat (Oman), Apr 13 (FN Agency) Nepal all-rounder Dipendra Singh Airee became the third batter to hit six sixes in an over in T20Is. Nepal’s 24-year-old all-rounder smashed six sixes in an over in the ACC Men’s T20I Premier Cup clash against Qatar in Al Amerat on Saturday. Airee joined Yuvraj Singh and Kieron Pollard to become the third batter to achieve the feat in Men’s T20Is. Yuvraj was the first to do so in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2007 off Stuart Broad. Pollard joined him in 2021 by smashing Akila Dananjaya for six sixes in Coolidge. In ODIs, Herschelle Gibbs was the first to hit six sixes in an over during the 2007 ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup match against Netherlands. USA’s Jaskaran Malhotra achieved the same in 2021 against Papua New Guinea, an ICC report said.
Airee was on 28 off 15 balls before the start of the final over of the innings against Kamran Khan. He went on to hit every ball of the last over for six to finish on 64 off 21 balls. The Nepal star player came through the 2016 ICC Men’s U19 Cricket World Cup in 2016 and got into the senior team by the age of 17. Interestingly, last year, Airee hit six consecutive sixes in the Asian Games against Mongolia, but then the feat was spread across two overs when he smashed the fastest fifty in T20Is in nine balls, breaking Yuvraj Singh’s record of 12 deliveries. Airee’s form is a huge boost for Nepal with less than 50 days to go for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024. Nepal are in Group D alongside South Africa, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and the Netherlands in the marquee tournament, hosted in the Caribbean Islands and USA.