WATCH: 6, 6, 6 – Odean Smith smashing three sixes off Mohammed Siraj in the 18th over of tense run chase

It was a remarkable run-chase from Punjab Kings (PBKS) in their first game of the 2022 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) racked up a huge 205 in their 20 overs but Punjab hunted that down with an over to spare and also had five wickets in hand. And it […]
 By CricXtasy Staff Mar 27, 2022, 23:54 IST
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WATCH: 6, 6, 6 – Odean Smith smashing three sixes off Mohammed Siraj in the 18th over of tense run chase

It was a remarkable run-chase from Punjab Kings (PBKS) in their first game of the 2022 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) racked up a huge 205 in their 20 overs but Punjab hunted that down with an over to spare and also had five wickets in hand. And it was Odean Smith’s eight-ball blitz that pushed Punjab over the line.

New RCB captain Faf du Plessis who was 17 off 30 balls at one stage went berserk in the second half of RCB’s batting innings and piled up a 57-ball 88 in a knock that included seven sixes. Virat Kohli accounted for an unbeaten 41 from 29 balls. Dinesh Karthik walked in at No. 4 and smashed a 14-ball 32 which propelled RCB’s score past 200.

In reply, PBKS got off to a strong start. Shikhar Dhawan and Mayank Agarwal added 71 runs for the opening stand and Bhanuka Rajapaksa played an excellent hand of 43 which came off just 22 balls. But they lost wickets regularly and were 170/5 in 17 overs. 36 were needed from the last three overs.

Odean Smith was batting on two off three balls and he had already been dropped by Anuj Rawat at deep cover. Moreover, RCB also missed a chance to run him out and Smith made them pay dearly. In the 18th over, the hard-hitting Jamaican-born all-rounder smashed Mohammed Siraj for three sixes and a four to almost kill the run-chase.

WATCH: Kohli celebrates as Faf du Plessis thumps six

The first of those sixes was in the cover-point region. Siraj bowled a full-length delivery and Smith slashed hard which resulted in the ball travelling flat over the boundary. The next one was much cleaner and flatter. Siraj continued to employ the wide yorker line and got punished once again. Smith got stuck into the lofted shot and sent the ball flat and hard over wide long-off. The last one was off a bouncer but Smith’s brute power came to the fore and he muscled it off the backfoot over long-off.

WATCH: 6, 6, 6 – Odean Smith smashing three sixes off Mohammed Siraj in the 18th over of tense run chase

Watch Smith’s three sixes off Siraj’s 18th over here:

Punjab Kings got off to a winning start as they recorded their joint-highest run-chase in the history of the IPL. 

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