Local cricketer Zaheer Shaikh hits 6 sixes hit in an over

What is common among Gary Sobers, Ravi Shastri, Herschelle Gibbs and Yuvraj Singh? No prizes for guessing. All of them hit six sixes in an over. Now, there can be an addition to the illustrious list.

Local Mumbai cricketer and Reliance Industries player Zaheer Shaikh joined the elite club when he smashed Godrej Industries’ Ravi Jadhav for six consecutive sixes. It happened  in the 26th over in a B Division match of the Mumbai Cricket Association-organised Thane Vaibhav Summer Cricket Tournament (35-overs). The match was played last Thursday at the Dadoji Konddev Stadium.

The 24-year-old also struck a 47-ball unbeaten 106 with five boundaries and nine sixes in his team’s 327-run win over Godrej. The magnitude of the feat can be gauged from the fact that the Dadoji Konddev Stadium’s boundaries are of 80 yards. Clearing it for six off consecutive balls is no easy feat. Shaikh thrashed the first five balls into the stands and then followed it with a towering six outside the stadium.

“I just stepped out and played my shots out of the ground. I am happy to hit six sixes in one over, but that was unintentional,” Shaikh, an Andheri-East resident, told DNA. “I played most of my shots on the mid-off and mid-on. The bowler of the opposition team was, in fact, the captain of the side and he praised my batting,” added the Sachin Tendulkar fan.

Shaikh is a contracted player with Reliance and started playing proper cricket only two and a half years back under the tutelage of Payyade Sports Club and MCA coach Sanjay Gaitonde. “He is a talented boy. I have been working on him for quite some time and I have given him a task of becoming a polished player in two years. I was not there, but hitting six sixes in that ground is no joke. If he puts in the hard work, he can be in Mumbai T20 team in two years time,” added Gaitonde.