Credit: Twitter
During his power-hitting innings of 82 runs in just 56 balls for India against Sri Lanka, Shreyas Iyer smashed the biggest six of the ODI World Cup 2023 thus far, registering a distance of 106m. As the ball flew up into the grandstands at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, Dhanashree Verma and her husband Yuzvendra Chahal were spotted on camera ducking for cover, to ensure their safety from the cricket ball.
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Shreyas Iyer walked into bat for India in the 31st over, at the fall of Shubman Gill’s wicket for 92 off 92, who had shared an 189-run stand for the second wicket with Virat Kohli. Shortly afterward, the former Indian captain was dismissed for 88 off 94, which put some pressure on the 28-year-old to keep the momentum of the Indian innings going, which was flying at more than 6 runs per over.
Despite some of the questions surrounding his place in the Indian playing XI, Shreyas Iyer was quick to take the attack to the Sri Lanka bowlers. He pumped Kasun Rajitha for a six off a slower ball at the long-off region to open his boundary-hitting account in the 34th over of the innings, before pumping the leg spinner Dushan Hemantha over his head for a maximum in the next over.
Watch Shreyas Iyer's 106m six here:
Then, in the 36th over, the Mumbai-born cricketer smashed the length delivery from Kasun Rajitha off the meat of the bat towards the long-on region for a massive 106-metre six. The ball smashed the advertising hoarding of the third tier second tier before it ricocheted towards the second tier where Yuzvendra Chahal, the Indian leg spin bowler, and his wife Dhanashree Verma, two of the friends of Shreyas Iyer, were seated.
After India posted the total of 357/8 on the board in their allotted 50 overs, thanks mainly to the six maximums from Shreyas Iyer on the night, they managed to bowl out Sri Lanka for just 55 runs, to register their biggest win by runs in the ODI World Cup history. With this great performance, India also became the first team to reach the semi-final of the flagship tournament at home.
