Six-hitting sprees, hat-tricks: T20 World Cup thrills unfold

The ICC T20 World Cup, which is in its second stage with Super 8 matches being played, has witnessed some thrilling games, never-seen-before bowling spells and resilient and fighting knocks that define the unpredictable nature of this format.

There have been stunning upsets and amid nail-biting thrillers, cricketing milestones have been created. Here is a look:

*Most Wickets in Men's World Cups

Australian fast bowler Mitchell Starc has engraved his name atop an elite list having picked up most wickets in the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup (ODI) and the Men's T20 World Cup combined.

When he beat the bat of Tanzid Hasan during Australia's win over Bangladesh in Super Eight, Starc improved his total to 95 World Cup wickets, one ahead of Sri Lanka legend Lasith Malinga (94 wickets).

*West Indies equal the record for most runs in a T20I over

A record set back in the early days of the Men's T20 World Cup was equalled by West Indies when they scored 36 runs of the fourth over of their final group game against Afghanistan.
As many as 26 of these runs came off the willow of Nicholas Pooran, who hit three sixes and two fours in the over. Courtesy his explosive knock of 98, the Windies eased past Afghanistan with a convincing 104-run win.

This 36-run over equalled the record for most runs in a T20I over. While this instance has occurred four more times, it was only the second occasion in the Men's T20I World Cup. The first instance was in the inaugural event in South Africa, where Yuvraj Singh hit Stuart Broad for 36 runs.

*Pat Cummins bags the seventh hat-trick of the Men's T20 World Cup

Facing Bangladesh in the Super Eights, Australia star pacer Pat Cummins bagged himself the first hat-trick of the T20 World Cup this year, by picking up the wickets of Mohammad Mahmudullah, Mahedi Hasan and Towhid Hridoy in the last two balls of the 18th over and the first ball of the final over respectively.

With this feat, Cummins has become only the seventh player to have scalped a hat-trick in the Men's T20 World Cup, following Brett Lee (2007), Curtis Campher (2021), Wanindu Hasaranga (2021), Kagiso Rabada (2021), Karthik Meiyappan (2022), and Josh Little (2022). After Lee, he was the second Australian to do it.

*Record Partnerships

Rahmanullah Gurbaz (76 runs in 45 balls) and Ibrahim Zadran (70 runs in 46 balls) set the second-highest opening partnership in T20 World Cup history with a 154-run stand in Afghanistan's win over Uganda by 125 runs in their opening fixture.

They sit behind the duo of England openers Alex Hales (86 runs in 47 balls) and Jos Buttler (80 runs in 49 balls), who registered a 170-run partnership in the semi-final of the Men's T20 World Cup 2022, against India, showcasing a memorable 10-wicket win.

On the deep end, Sherfane Rutherford (68 runs in 39 balls) and Gudakesh Motie set the record for the highest-ever partnership for the 10th wicket, registering 37 runs against New Zealand in their Group C encounter. This record stand was built in the final two overs and helped West Indies overcome a poor start to post a winning total. WI eventually won against NZ by 13 runs.

*Most catches in a T20 World Cup game

In the ongoing edition of the Men's T20 World Cup, Glenn Maxwell (Australia) and Aiden Markram (South Africa), have equalled Daren Sammy's record of four successful catches in a single innings.

Sammy's record in 2010 was levelled by Maxwell when Australia locked horns with Namibia in Group B, followed by Aiden Markram equalling it against Bangladesh in their Group D encounter.

*Aaron Jones equals Chris Gayle for the record of most sixes in a T20 World Cup innings

USA captain Aaron Jones wrote his name into the history books not only for pulling the co-hosts up against neighbouring rivals Canada in the tournament opener, leading to their historic maiden win in the contest but also a created a milestone with the bat.

Jones smashed a record 10 sixes in the Group A opener against Canada, amassing 94 runs off just 40 balls, levelling Gayle's record for second-highest number of sixes in a T20 WC innings. Gayle has also smashed the most (11 sixes) in a T20 WC innings against England, back in 2016.

*Anrich Nortje becomes the leading wicket-taker for South Africa in Men's T20 World Cups

The South African pace express has been on an exceptional run this tournament. With 11 scalps at an average of a mere 12.9, he has been leading the South Africa charge in the tournament.

When he picked the key wicket of Harry Brook in the final over during the riveting England-South Africa encounter, he became the leading wicket-taker for Proteas in the event, with 31 scalps, going past Steyn's tally of 30 wickets.

*New Zealand's Lockie Ferguson creates unprecedented, unbreakable record

Ferguson delivered the most economical spell in the history of the ICC T20 World Cup and T20I cricket in general on Monday. During the game, Lockie delivered his full quota of four overs and took three wickets. The most astonishing part of this spell was, the speedster not giving even a single run to the opposition.

Ferguson outdid his teammate and pacer Tim Southee, who delivered an incredible spell of 3/4 in four overs against Uganda in their team's previous T20 World Cup encounter on June 14. This is also the most economical spell of all time in all of T20I cricket, outdoing Canada's Saad Bin Zafar's spell of two wickets for zero runs in four overs against Panama back in 2021.

The T20 World Cup final will be played on June 29.