West Indies vs Sri Lanka, 2021: 1st T20I - Kieron Pollard’s flurry of records, Dananjaya’s unique hat-trick and more stats

The first T20I between West Indies and Sri Lanka turned out to be a pretty eventful match as many new milestones were created in it. West Indies opted to bowl first after winning the toss and the visiting team were unable to post a big total. Sri Lanka scored 131/9 in 20 overs with some vital contributions from Niroshan Dickwella and Pathum Nissanka.

Chasing this total, the hosts had scored 52 runs in only 3.1 overs but lost 3 consecutive wickets at this total. Akila Dananjaya bagged a hat-trick in his second over picking wickets of Evin Lewis, Chris Gayle and Nicholas Pooran. However captain Kieron Pollard changed the tides in the very next over of Dananjaya where he hit him for six sixes. West Indies chased the total in 13.1 overs winning the match by 4 wickets. Captain Pollard was awarded player of the match for his explosive knock of 38 runs in 11 balls. 

Let’s look at important stats and numbers after the end of the first T20I between West Indies and Sri Lanka:

Kieron Pollard’s flurry of records

2 – Kieron Pollard became only the second player in the world after Yuvraj Singh to hit 6 maximums in an over in T20Is. Yuvraj had achieved this milestone against Stuart Broad in World T20 2007. 

36 – Pollard also joined alongside Yuvraj in terms of most runs (36) in an over in T20Is.

3 – In international cricket, Pollard is the third cricketer to achieve the phenomenal feat after Herschelle Gibbs and Yuvraj Singh.

345.45 – Pollard’s strike rate of 345.45 is the second-highest by a West Indies batsman in a T20I innings with a minimum of 25 runs. Dwayne Smith, who smashed 29 runs off 7 balls against Bangladesh with a strike rate of 414.28 in 2007, is at the top spot in the overall list.

38 – Pollard hit 38 runs in his innings without a single four. This is the second-highest individual score for West Indies in T20I in this regard. Earlier, Andre Russell had scored 40 runs off 14 balls with the help of 6 sixes against Sri Lanka in 2020.  

Hat-trick for Akila Dananjaya

3 – Akila Dananjaya became the third Sri Lankan bowler after Lasith Malinga and Thisara Perera to pick a hat-trick in T20Is. Malinga has recorded two hat-tricks in the shortest format. 

62 – The Sri Lankan bowler gave 62 runs in his 4 overs including 3 wickets. This is the costliest 3-fer in an innings in the history of T20I cricket.  Also, this was the most expensive hat-trick in terms of runs conceded in an innings.

36 – Danajanya joined alongside Stuart Broad in terms of conceding most runs in an over in T20Is. In Sri Lankan bowlers, he now has this unwanted record to his name. 

6 – In T20 cricket, Dananjaya’s over is the joint sixth most expensive over. Delhi bowler Akash Sudan tops the list with 39 runs in an over against Baroda in SMAT20 2016.

Fidel Edwards’ long wait

8 – Fidel Edwards returned to the West Indies side after 8 years and 98 days. This is the third-longest gap between two appearances in International cricket among cricketers of Test-playing nations. Liam Plunkett and Joe Denly are in the top two spots in this regard.

Other records

28 – Chris Gayle got out on the very first ball he faced in the match. He now has joint-most ducks (28) along with Dwayne Smith in T20 cricket.

41  – West Indies chased the target successfully with 41 balls remaining. This is the sixth-largest margin of victory in terms of balls remaining among targets above 130.