Young Indian opening batter Yashasvi Jaiswal made history on Sunday (July 14) by becoming the first Indian and second batter worldwide to hit two sixes off the first two balls of a T20I match. Jaiswal achieved this feat during the fifth T20I between India and Zimbabwe at Harare Sports Club. He struck a six on the first ball bowled by Zimbabwe captain Sikandar Raza, and after it was declared a no-ball, the 22-year-old left-handed batter hit another six on the subsequent free hit.
Before Jaiswal, Tanzanian batter Ivan Selemani was the only other player to achieve this milestone, doing so in a T20I match between Tanzania and Rwanda in 2022. Selemani, a 24-year-old right-handed batter, set this record during their 2022 clash.
Jaiswal, who had earned the Player of the Match award for his 93 runs from 53 balls in the fourth T20I on Saturday (July 13), couldn’t convert his explosive start into a big score on Sunday. He was dismissed by Raza on the fourth ball of the first over after scoring 12 runs off five balls in the final match of the tour.
The 22-year-old Rajasthan Royals batter, part of the Indian team that won the T20 World Cup 2024 title last month, missed the first two matches of the series due to India’s delayed return from Barbados after their World Cup victory. He became available for selection in the third T20I and scored 36 runs from 27 balls in the match at Harare Sports Club on Wednesday (July 10).
In the three T20Is he played in the ongoing series against Zimbabwe, Jaiswal scored a total of 141 runs, ranking second on the list of leading run-scorers, behind only Shubman Gill. The Indian captain, who played all five matches, scored 170 runs, including two fifties in the third and fourth T20I, but managed only 13 runs from 14 balls in the final match of the tour.
For the fifth T20I against Zimbabwe, India made two changes to their playing XI: Pacer Mukesh Kumar and Riyan Parag replaced Ruturaj Gaikwad and Khaleel Ahmed.
