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South Africa and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) batter Faf Du Plessis completed 300 sixes in T20 cricket on Monday. The 38-year-old reached this milestone during his side's Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 match against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) at the home arena of M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.
In the match, Faf struggled initially but smashed quick runs in the second half of the innings. He ended at an unbeaten 79 off 46 balls, consisting of five fours and five sixes. These five sixes took his six count in T20s to 301. The top-five six hitters in T20 cricket are West Indies legend Chris Gayle (1,056 sixes), former West Indies all-rounder Kieron Pollard (812), West Indies all-rounder Andre Russell (589 sixes), former New Zealand wicketkeeper-batter Brendon McCullum (485 sixes) and New Zealand's Colin Munro (480 sixes). Rohit Sharma (462 sixes), Virat Kohli (360 sixes), Suresh Raina (325 sixes), KL Rahul (289 sixes) and Robin Uthappa (267 sixes) are some of the Indian players on the list as well. Put to bat first by LSG, RCB posted a massive 212/2 in their 20 overs. Virat Kohli (61 off 45 balls, 4 boundaries and four sixes) provided a quick start in the powerplay with skipper Faf Du Plessis, forming a 96-run stand in 69 balls. From then onwards, the skipper picked up speed and formed a 115-run stand with Glenn Maxwell in just 50 balls. Faf scored an unbeaten 79 off 46 balls, consisting of five fours and five sixes. Maxwell scored 59 off 29 balls, consisting of three fours and six sixes. Dinesh Karthik was unbeaten on 1. Mark Wood (1/32) and Amit Mishra (1/18) were among the wickets for LSG. In chase of 213 runs, LSG was off to a bad start as they were reduced to 23/3 in four overs. However, KL Rahul (18) and Marcus Stoinis had a game-changing 76-run stand for the fourth wicket. Stoinis scored a quick 65 off 30 balls, consisting of six fours and five sixes. Nicholas Pooran upped the attack following KL and Stoinis's dismissal, scoring 62 off just 19 balls with four boundaries and seven sixes. He formed a quick 84-run stand with Ayush Badoni, who scored 30 off 24 balls. The equation came down to five runs in the final over bowled by Harshal Patel, who conceded a single on ball one, wicket on ball two. A double and single was taken on balls three and four. Unadkat was dismissed on the penultimate ball, bringing down the equation to one run in a ball. Harshal attempted to run out Ravi Bishnoi from the non-strikers' end but failed. The last ball was a bye and LSG clinched a thrilling one-wicket win. Mohammed Siraj was the pick of the bowlers for RCB, taking 3/22 in four overs. Wayne Parnell also took 3/41 on his IPL return. Harshal got two scalps but gave away 48 runs in four overs. Karn Sharma took 1/48 in three overs. With this win, LSG is the table topper with three wins and a loss in four games. They have a total of six points. RCB is in seventh position with a win and two losses in three games and a total of two points. Pooran won the 'Player of the Match' for his game-changing knock. Brief score: Royal Challengers Bangalore 212/2 (Faf du Plessis 79*, Virat Kohli 61; Amit Mishra 1-18) vs Lucknow Super Giants 213/9 (Marcus Stoinis 65, Nicholas Pooran 62; Mohammed Siraj 3-22). (ANI)
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