Rohit Sharma Becomes 4th Cricketer To Hit Sixes On First Two Balls Of A Test Innings

Indian men’s cricket team captain Rohit Sharma opened his account with back-to-back sixes in the ongoing second Test against Bangladesh at Green Park in Kanpur on Monday (September 30). The 38-year-old right-handed batter hammered Bangladeshi pacer Khaled Ahmed for two sixes in a row on the first two balls of the second over of India’s first innings. By opening his account with two maximums, Rohit became the third Indian and overall fourth cricketer in the world to score two sixes in the first two balls of a men’s Test innings.

Former West Indies batter Foffie Williams was the first batter to smash two sixes in the first two balls of a Test inning. He achieved the feat against England in 1948 by hammering Jim Laker for two maximums.

Legendary Indian batter Sachin Tendulkar equalled his record in 2013 by opening his account with back-to-back sixes against Nathan Lyon during the India-Australia Test match.

Indian pacer Umesh Yadav also opened his account with two sixes against South Africa’s George Linde in 2019.

Players to hit sixes off their first two balls in a men’s Test innings

• Foffie Williams (West Indies) vs Jim Laker (England) in 1948
• Sachin Tendulkar (India) vs Nathan Lyon (Australia) in 2013
• Umesh Yadav (India) vs George Linde (South Africa) in 2019
• Rohit Sharma (India) vs Khaled Ahmed (Bangladesh) in 2024

Rohit, who was clean bowled by Mehidy Hasan Miraz on the fifth ball of the fourth over of Indian innings, scored 23 runs from 11 balls. But before returning to the pavilion, he added 55 runs for the first wicket with Yashasvi Jaiswal (72). The duo helped India cross the 50-run mark in just three overs, which is a new record of fastest team fifty in Test cricket’s history.

India also improved its record of fastest team hundred in Tests by crossing the three-figure mark in 10.1 overs.

Jaiswal, who is the leading run scorer for India in the Tests played this year, faced a total of 51 balls during his stay at the crease and scored 72 runs. During his stay at the crease, he broke Ajinkya Rahane’s record of scoring most runs for India in a single edition of the World Test Championship. He has 1166 runs to his name in 11 matches of 2023-25 WTC, whereas Rahane amassed a total of 1059 runs in 18 matches of 2019-21 WTC.