It was the penultimate over of the Maharashtra innings, which started with the scoreboard reading 272 for 5, and ended with Maharashtra on 315 for 5. The total of 43 runs from the over also made it to the record books, matching the combined effort of Brett Hampton and Joe Carter, off Willem Ludick, for Northern Districts against Central Districts in a Ford Trophy game from 2018.
On Monday in Ahmedabad, left-arm spinner Shiva Singh was in operation from around the wicket at the start of the over. The first ball, a low full-toss, was tonked over deep midwicket. The second was in the arc, and was smashed straight down the ground. The third was shorter, and Gaikwad swung it over the rope at deep square leg. Shiva changed his line for the fourth ball and went outside off stump, but the length was perfect for Gaikwad to hit over long-off. The fifth went roughly in the same direction, and was also a no-ball, and the free hit went over long-on. That was the sixth six in five legal deliveries, and Gaikwad got to his double-century with that hit. The last ball, Shiva finally going over the wicket, was again in the arc on middle stump, and went over deep midwicket again.
Gaikwad finished on 220 not out off 159 balls, with ten fours and 16 sixes. And the unfortunate Shiva finished with 0 for 88 from nine overs. It was pretty much a one-man show from Gaikwad, with the rest of the Maharashtra batters aggregating 96 runs from 142 balls.
More to follow…
Source: ESPN Crickinfo