Kolkata: Wriddhiman Saha presented another dimension to his batsmanship as he
geared for the upcoming Indian Premier League hitting 14 sixes in a
20-ball hundred during a T20 inter-club game.
Wriddhiman,
playing for Mohun Bagan against Bengal Nagpur Railways (BNR) at the
Kalighat ground scored an unbeaten 102 off 20 balls with the green and
maroon brigade chasing down a target of 152 in only seven overs in a JC
Mukherjee Trophy game.
His innings had 14 sixes and four
boundaries apart from two singles. Wriddhiman finished the match in the
seventh over hitting medium pacer Aman Prosad for six sixes. However the
over yielded 37 runs as he bowled a wide delivery. The final six
brought up the India Test specialist' hundred.
"I could
feel from the first ball that I was able to hit the ball in the middle
and I went for it," Saha, who loves to open the batting in limited overs
cricket, told reporters after his sensational innings.
"Not sure of this being a record, but looking into the IPL, I tried to play different shots and it worked."
It must be mentioned that BNR is one of the better first
division teams and Kalighat ground is of decent size in Kolkata Maidan.
While being dubbed as a Test specialist, Wriddhiman does have an IPL
hundred -- during the 2014 edition in Bengaluru for the Kings XI Punjab.
Wriddhiman, who was brought by SRH for Rs 5 crore for IPL-2018, had an
astonishing strike rate of 510.00 while his opening partner and captain
Subhomoy Das remained unbeaten on 43 off 22 balls (6x4, 2x6).
Wriddhiman started off with a single before going berserk to slam
consecutive fours, followed by a six against Abhidipta Chakraborty in
the first over.
Continuing his assault, the right-hander cruised
to his half-century in just 12 balls with four fours and an equal
number of sixes as there was no looking back as he completed his century
off just 20 balls.
Royal Challengers Bangalore Chris Gayle
holds the record for the fastest T20 century -- in 30 balls -- in an
official tournament (Indian Premier League).
PTI
