Galle: Kiwi fast bowler Tim Southee has equalled one Test match feat of India’s iconic batsman Sachin Tendulkar and has taken a lesser number of matches to achieve the feat.
In a career spanning over two decades Sachin Tendulkar managed to hit 69 sixes in Test cricket. It took him 200 Tests and 329 innings to achieve the feat. Well, when Tim Southee danced down the pitch to hit Dhananjaya de Silva for a maximum on day 2 of the first Sri Lanka-New Zealand Test, he also achieved the feat of hitting the same number of sixes as hit by Tendulkar. He in fact took only 66 matches and 96 innings to match the great Tendulkar.
Southee has already surpassed former cricketers AB de Villiers, Sanath Jayasuriya and Ian Botham in the list of most sixes in Test cricket. He is currently placed 17th in the list of most six-hitters in this format.
The 30-year-old Southee has 1550 Test runs, with the high score of an unbeaten 77. He has hit five half centuries in Tests and has picked up 244 wickets. However, he failed to dismiss a single Sri Lankan batsman in the hosts’ first innings.
Former New Zealand opener Brendon McCullum leads the tally of most sixes in Test cricket with 107 to his name. Among the Indian batsmen, Virender Sehwag heads the list with 91 sixes followed by MS Dhoni (78).
Agencies
