Vijay Hazare Trophy, 2017-18: Ishan Kishan and Shubman Gill equal sixes record for their respective teams

The youngsters are making most in the ongoing Vijay Hazare Trophy as the latest millionaire in the IPL auction Ishan Kishan scoring runs at a consistent basis. The former India U19 team skipper got appointed as the Jharkhand captain for the tournament and is currently the 2nd highest run-getter in the tournament with 290 runs. Shubman Gill, the man of the tournament in the recently concluded U19 CWC, scored a big century on Sunday after a string of low scores.

The Punjab player took on the Karnataka bowlers in a must-win Group A game as his team lost two of their previous three games in which he aggregated only 37 runs. Against an in-form bowling attack led by an experienced skipper Vinay Kumar, Shubman Gill hit an unbeaten 122-ball 123 in the 42-over match. The right-hander needed 72 balls to bring up his fifty but took only 31 further deliveries to raise his 2nd century in List A cricket.

Shubman hit eight fours and six sixes during his marathon innings. With those six sixes in this innings, Shubman equalled the record of most sixes for Punjab in a List A innings. The record is jointly shared by Harbhajan Singh and Yuvraj Singh; Punjab’s current captain and vice-captain. Harbhajan hit six sixes in his 25-ball 51 against Gujarat in 2014 while Yuvraj hit during his 93-ball 93 against Mumbai in 2015.

Ishan Kishan surpasses MS Dhoni.

Jharkhand’s young skipper Ishan Kishan too produced breezy innings on Sunday when they faced Saurashtra. Opening the innings, Ishan struck five fours and seven sixes in his 95-ball 93 only to fall short of his 2nd consecutive century by seven runs. With the seven sixes, the 20-year-old equalled Jharkhand’s record of most sixes in a List A innings. Saurabh Tiwary also hit seven sixes during his 104-ball 102 against Hyderabad last year.

In the previous edition of the Vijay Hazare Trophy, MS Dhoni hit six sixes during his 129-run knock against Chhattisgarh while Tiwary hit six sixes in his unbeaten 102 against Services. No other player scored more than six sixes in a List A innings for Jharkhand. In the ongoing tournament, Ishan Kishan hit a total of 14 sixes in four innings which are the most for any player.