“Me and Flintoff all the time had heated arguments on the sector since you’re representing your nation and making an attempt to beat one another, that’s the character of the game,” Yuvraj recalled on the tenth anniversary of his feat. “He bowled two good balls and I used to be capable of hit them for boundaries.
“He clearly didn’t prefer it and he stated one thing to me and I retaliated. That clearly charged me up and after I got here again on the crease I simply felt like ‘I wish to hit each ball out of the bottom’.”
Earlier achievers of the feat – Sir Garfield Sobers for Nottinghamshire towards Glamorgan’s Malcolm Nash at Swansea in 1968, Ravi Shastri clouting Baroda’s Tilak Raj for Mumbai at Wankhede in 1985, and South Africa’s Herschelle Gibbs smacking Dutchman Daan van Bunge at St Kitts earlier in 2007 – had all finished so towards spin. Nevertheless it was not as if tempo bowlers had Twenty20 found out.
Operating in at Yuvraj was a 19-year-old Stuart Broad, promising however not the 566 Take a look at-wicket performer he would grow to be. Along with his callow age, Broad and different quicks lacked the instruments of defence which have grow to be normal in Twenty20, making an attempt as a substitute merely to bowl yorkers. Mayhem ensued.
Six balls, all within the 126-130 km/h vary, flew off Yuvraj’s bat to the rising pleasure of Shastri in commentary. 5 have been missed yorkers or “slot balls” from over the wicket, the opposite a large full toss from across the wicket. None noticed adjustments of tempo, bouncers or any nice variation.
“I used to be 19, perhaps somewhat bit naive, missing a little bit of talent on the dying, and Yuvi hit the ball superbly,” Broad stated in 2019. “There was nonetheless a thought you could attempt to bowl six yorkers or six slower balls and batsmen wouldn’t cotton on to what you have been doing.
Yuvraj Singh’s wonderful over in 2007, hitting six consecutive sixes.Credit score:Getty Photos
“It was an exceptional little bit of talent from Yuvi, not one thing I remorse or look again on with large negativity, as a result of truly I believe it’s made me the bowler I’m at present.”
Along with Broad’s lack of awareness to cease the run of sixes, Yuvraj had a mindset so clear and centered that he didn’t, initially, realise he had struck six in a row.
That type of unaffected considering, typical within the early days of the format when gamers didn’t think about their careers rested on its outcomes, is now a state rather more intentionally sought when a lot extra is at stake.
“It truly didn’t happen to me that I’d hit six sixes, as a result of it was a lot aggression,” Yuvraj recalled. “I checked out midwicket at Dimitri Mascarenhas, I gave him a giant smile, remembering he’d hit me for 5 sixes in a one-day sport. It was very satisfying.”
The aftermath: Stuart Broad might solely shake his head after being belted for six sixes.Credit score:Getty Photos
Within the house of these six balls, a few issues grew to become irrevocably true. A participant not wanted to be outlined purely by their data in Take a look at matches or 50-over World Cups. And, as said by Tim Wigmore and Freddie Wilde in Cricket 2.0, the previous stability between bat and ball additionally flipped.
“In Take a look at cricket, the bowlers have been charged with attacking – so as to take wickets – whereas batsmen historically emphasised defence,” they wrote. “The framework of T20 cricket inverted this relationship – immediately batsmen have been the offence as they regarded to attain as many runs as quick as doable and bowlers the defence as they regarded to forestall batsmen from doing so.”
As if to underline the purpose, two extra gamers have finished the trick in Twenty20 matches since, albeit towards two extra unlucky spin bowlers. Worcestershire’s Ross Whiteley hammered Kyle Carver of Yorkshire for six out of six (excluding a large) in 2017, and West Indian captain Kieron Pollard somewhat dampened Akila Dananjaya’s earlier hat-trick for Sri Lanka by doing likewise final 12 months.
Yuvraj would strike once more at Kingsmead within the 2007 semi-final towards Australia, then the world’s undisputed dominators, carving out 70 from 30 balls to assist set a complete that India narrowly succeeded in defending. They have been to satisfy Pakistan within the finale.
On repeat: Umpire Simon Taufel indicators a six throughout Yuvraj Singh’s blitz.Credit score:Getty Photos
The Australians had appeared on track to chase efficiently when Mike Hussey popped a hamstring. As one squad member recalled: “India didn’t deal with Twenty20 cricket with a lot deference in these days, they have been sending youthful sides and resting their extra skilled gamers. So world cricket modified as a result of Huss blew his hammy out!”
Earlier than the decider in Johannesburg, Yuvraj was approached by Broad’s father, Chris, the match referee, with the wry phrases, “Thanks for nearly ending my son’s profession.” At Chris Broad’s request, Yuvraj signed and handed over his match shirt for Stuart, writing “I understand how it feels, coz I’ve been hit for 5”.
Loading
An exciting subsequent victory, sealed when Misbah-ul-Haq scooped Joginder Sharma into the palms of Sreesanth at quick superb leg, was capstone on an occasion that had lengthy since captured India’s public creativeness.
It’s true that the Indian Premier League, quickly to show the economics and calendar of world cricket the wrong way up, had already been launched early within the event, earlier than Yuvraj’s sixes rained down in Durban, or Dhoni lifted the trophy on the Wanderers.
However the momentum created by these three occasions collectively helped to create a wave that cricket is, for good and for ailing, nonetheless driving.
