Samoa's Darius Visser becomes first batter to score 39 runs in an over in T20Is

It was a historic day for Samoa Cricket on August 20 (Tuesday) as Darius Visser achieved what no one before him had done in T20 Internationals (T20I). The middle-order batter became the first player in international cricket to hit 39 runs in an over. He achieved the feat during a T20 World Cup East Asia-Pacific Region Qualifier game against Vanuatu in Apia, Samoa. 

It was during the 15th over of the first innings of the game that the 28-year-old hit Nalin Nipiko for 39 runs with six sixes in the over. He became only the fourth batter in T20Is after Yuvraj Singh (India), Kieron Pollard (West Indies) and Dipendra Singh Airee (Nepal) to hit six sixes in an over in T20Is. However, unlike his three predecessors, the Samoa man did not hit six consecutive sixes. 

WORLD RECORD ALERT 🚨

Samoa's Darius Visser smashed 6️⃣ sixes as he broke the Men's T20I record for most runs in an over with 3️⃣9️⃣ off the 15th over against Vanuatu at the ICC Men’s T20 Sub Regional Qualifiers! 🤯#FanCode pic.twitter.com/WNpxD26Pgw

— FanCode (@FanCode) August 20, 2024

In the 15th over, Visser, who also bowls leg-spin, hit the first three balls for a six. The fourth one was a no-ball, which turned out to be a dot otherwise. He hit the free-hit for a six and then played another dot ball. While delivering the sixth ball, Nipiko bowled consecutive no-balls. The first one was a dot, while the second was hit for a six, and so was the free hit that followed. It was in this fashion that the most expensive over in T20Is came to an end. 

There have been five instances where an over fetches 36 runs in T20Is. Apart from Yuvraj, Pollard and Airee, Nicholas Pooran hit 36 runs in an over against Afghanistan in the T20 World Cup 2024. However, he did not hit six sixes, and neither did Rohit Sharma and Rinku Singh of India when they, too, managed to extract 36 from one over against Afghanistan in March 2024. 

Visser’s knock of 132 off just 62 balls was the first century by a Samoan in T20Is. This helped his team post 174 in 20 overs and defend it to win their second match of the competition and move to the top of the points table. This tournament works as a ladder to eventual T20 World Cup qualification for 2026. 

The winners of these sub-regional qualifiers will join Papua New Guinea (PNG) and the winners of the sub-regional qualifiers B in the regional final. The winner of that regional final will then get a chance to participate in the T20 World Cup 2026 to be jointly hosted by India and Sri Lanka. 

With 132 out of 174 runs, Visser also broke former Australian skipper Aaron Finch’s record for scoring the highest percentage of team runs in a T20I. Visser, with 75.86 per cent of his team’s total runs, bettered Finch’s record of having scored 75.1% of his team’s runs during his knock of 172 against Zimbabwe in 2018. He scored 172 out of a team total of 229. 

If you’ve not downloaded the Cricket.com app yet, you’re missing out — big time. Play Fantasy on Cricket.com NOW! Download the App here.