Nicholas Pooran leaves Jos Buttler, Suryakumar Yadav behind with 7 sixes against South Africa in 1st T20I

West Indies’ destructive wicketkeeper-batter Nicholas Pooran moved up in the list of most sixes in T20I cricket. Pooran smashed seven sixes in the unbeaten 65-run knock from 26 balls in the first T20I of the three-T20I series against South Africa at Brian Lara Stadium, Trinidad on August 24. Pooran moved past England captain Jos Buttler and Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav on the list of leading six-hitters in T20Is. 
 

Pooran has 139 sixes from 88 innings. The top spot is occupied by former Indian T20I skipper Rohit Sharma with 205 sixes from 151 innings. He is followed by former New Zealand opener Martin Guptill with 173 sixes from 118 innings. Buttler is fourth on the list with 137 sixes from 114 innings. Suryakumar occupies the fifth spot with 136 sixes from just 68 innings.

Pooran closing in on Munro

In T20s overall, Pooran is the fifth-highest six-hitter with 537 sixes to his name. He is closing in on former New Zealand opener Colin Munro who has 548 sixes. If Pooran surpasses Munro in the next couple of T20Is, all four top spots will be occupied by West Indies batters. Chris Gayle is on top with 1,056 sixes followed by Kieron Pollard (877 sixes) and Andre Russell (704 sixes).

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Pooran enters top 25

Pooran also surpassed Uganda's Simon Ssezai and New Zealand's Brendon McCullum on the list of leading run-scorers in T20Is. Pooran is 25th on the list now with 2,141 runs at an average of 27.44 including 13 fifties.

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Pooran dominates Proteas batters 

Pooran walked in to bat at no.3 in the ninth over. He hit left-arm pacer Nandre Burger for four consecutive sixes in the 12th over. The left-handed batter reached his half-century from 20 balls. His knock helped West Indies win the game by seven wickets with 13 balls to spare.
 

“I felt Athanaze and Hope played well. Just had to set the game up. I took on my match ups. The first 10 overs were tricky when SA were batting. But Stubbs and Kruger played well. We always knew we had a chance,” Pooran said in the post-match presentation as he was named ‘Player of the match’.
 

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