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In the age of T20 cricket, where journeymen professionals can earn very decent money travelling the world and playing only the shorter format, big-hitting is a valuable commodity.

If ever you needed proof that it’s becoming harder for bowlers to rein in batsmen, consider that earlier this week, Sri Lankan Thisara Perera became just the ninth person of all-time to hit sixes in an over of a professional cricket match.

He joins Sir Garfield Sobers, Ravi Shastri, Herschelle Gibbs, Yuvraj Singh, Ross Whiteley, Hazratullah Zazai, Leo Carter, and Kieron Pollard, who achieved the feat earlier this month.

Of those nine, five have been achieved since 2017, with Perera becoming the first Sri Lankan ever to do so.

6 sixes in an over in a professional game:

Garfield Sobers (FC) 1968
Ravi Shastri (FC) 1985
HH Gibbs (ODI) 2007
Yuvraj Singh (T20I) 2007
Ross Whiteley (T20) 2017
Haztratullah Zazai (T20) 2018
Leo Carter (T20) 2020
Kieron Pollard (T20I) 2021
THISARA PERERA (List A) 2021

— Sarang Bhalerao (@bhaleraosarang) March 28, 2021

His destructive knock of 52 off just 13 balls is the second-fastest half-century in List A cricket history, and it was the unfortunate part-time offspinner Dilhan Cooray who bore the brunt of his hitting power.

The 41st and final over of the rain-truncated Sri Lanka Army Sports Club innings was one Cooray will want to forget:

Cooray ended up conceding 73 runs off four wicketless overs, but his side was spared what would have been a heavy defeat by inclement weather.

In pursuit of 319 to win, from 41 overs, Bloomfield Cricket and Athletic Club were 73 for 6 off 17 overs when the heavens opened.

The match was abandoned without a result, but that doesn’t mean Perera, and Cooray, are booted from the record books.

[source:cricinfo]