Samoan cricketer Darius Visser breaks Yuvraj Singh’s 17-year-old record
With a total of 14 sixes, Visser's outstanding performance fell four runs shy of the record set by one hitter in a men's T20I.
Darius Visser, a Samoan wicketkeeper batter, changed the course of history when he broke the record for most runs scored in a men’s Twenty20 International in just one over. Visser scored 39 runs in an over at Garden Oval No. 2 in Apia on Tuesday during Samoa’s match against Vanuatu in the current ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Sub Regional East Asia-Pacific Qualifier A competition. Visser struck six massive sixes in the fifteenth over of the Qualifier A match, assisted by three no-balls from Vanuatu seamer Nalin Nipiko.
In the first-ever ICC T20 World Cup in 2007, Yuvraj Singh, the former all-rounder from India, achieved an iconic feat by hitting six sixes to amass 36 runs in one over against Stuart Broad of England. More recently, Kieron Pollard (2021) and Nicholas Pooran (2024) also made significant contributions, as did Dipendra Singh Airee (2024 – 36 runs).
The Evolution of Darius Visser’s Batting
Nipiko’s over began with three deliveries, from which Visser hit three straight sixes. Samoa reached a score of hundred when he again cleared the boundary rope on the fourth over that was authorized to deliver.
Nipiko produced a dot ball from the fifth delivery of the over in an attempt to lower Visser’s emotions. However, the 28-year-old didn’t let up and blasted a maximum off the third no-ball of the over, keeping the momentum rising. His final six of the over ensured he broke the record and became the first Samoan player to reach a century in international cricket, the icing on the cake.
With a total of 14 sixes, Visser’s outstanding performance fell four runs shy of the record set by one hitter in a men’s T20I.
His impact performance of 132 from just 62 deliveries was sufficient to guarantee Samoa’s second triumph in the competition. Their victory preserved their chances of making it to the 2026 T20 World Cup.
The boundaries of these qualifying events are, nonetheless, more compact than those of a typical cricket pitch. That degree of maturity is not present in the players that play there. Cricket ought to be played everywhere in the globe, according to the ICC, which is working to establish cricket as a worldwide sport.
It is worth noting that just like Yuvraj Singh hit six sixes on six consecutive balls of Stuart Broad, Darius Visser did not hit six sixes on six consecutive balls of Nalin Nipiko. Because of this, the record of most runs in an over is in the name of Darius. Otherwise, the record of playing the fastest innings has not been broken even today.
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