West Indies batter Nicholas Pooran entered the record book in his team’s T20 World Cup 2024 match against Afghanistan on June 18. The match was played at the Daren Sammy National Cricket Stadium in St. Lucia.
Afghanistan won the toss and chose to bowl first. And Azmatullah Omarzai removed Brandon King for 7 runs. But then Johnson Charles and Nicholas Pooran took on the Afghan bowlers and scored quickly. West Indies recorded the highest team score in powerplay overs, scoring 92 runs for one wicket.
The highlight of this innings proved to be the 4th over of the Windies' innings when Omarzai was hammered for a record 36 runs.
Pooran wasted little time, hitting the bowler for a six on the very first ball. Azmatullah followed up with a no-ball, which Pooran slammed for a boundary. The pressure on the bowler increased when Pooran was bowled, but it was on a free hit. Azmatullah surrendered four more runs for leg-byes, making the bowlers appear fatigued as the attack continued. Pooran was in a good mood when the Afghan pacer was smacked for four and two sixes.
This meant that 36 runs came off a single over, with Omarzai conceding 10 extras i.e. 5 wides, a no-ball, and four leg-bye runs.
Here is the video:
With this assault, Pooran joined an elite list of players to have scored 36 runs in an over in T20Is. Yuvraj Singh was the first-ever batter to score 36 runs in an over after he took on England's Stuart Broad to slam 6 sixes in an over.
The list also featured Rohit Sharma and Rinku Singh, who scored 36 runs in an over against Afghanistan's Karim Janat.
Here is the list of batters scoring 36 runs in an over in T20Is:
36 - Yuvraj Singh (IND) vs Stuart Broad (ENG), Durban, 2007
36 - Kieron Pollard (WI) vs Akila Dananjaya (SL), Coolidge, 2021
36 - Rohit Sharma & Rinku Singh (IND) vs Karim Janat (AFG), Bengaluru, 2024
36 - Dipendra Singh Airee (NEP) vs Kamran Khan (QAT), Al Amerat, 2024
36 - Nicholas Pooran & Johnson Charles (WI) vs Azmatullah Omarzai (AFG), St. Lucia, 2024
Pooran was dismissed run out for 98 runs but West Indies won by 104 runs as they scored 218/5 and bowled out Afghanistan for 114.
