Akila Dananjaya had a day to remember and a day to forget in the space of an over
West Indies 134 for 6 (Pollard 38, Hasaranga 3-12, Dananjaya 3-62) beat Sri Lanka 131 for 9 (Nissanka 39) by four wickets
In one of the more ridiculous T20 run-chases you will witness, Kieron Pollard became just the third player to hit six sixes in an over in international cricket off the same bowler, Akila Dananjaya, who had rocked West Indies’ chase just an over earlier with a hat-trick.
It felt like it was either sixes or wickets for most of West Indies’ innings as an opening stand of 52 in 3.2 became 52 for 3 when Evin Lewis, Chris Gayle (on his comeback) and Nicholas Pooran fell in three balls to Dananjaya. Eight balls later Lendl Simmons also departed, lbw to the impressive Wanindu Hasaranga, before Pollard’s immense response.
Facing the next over from Dananjaya he joined Herschelle Gibbs and Yuvraj Singh in having taken 36 off an over with some of the shots almost going out of the small ground. West Indies’ Powerplay tally of 98 was also a new record and the wild ride continued when Pollard was also lbw to Hasaranga before relative calm was brought to the conclusion by Jason Holder.
Full report to follow