In modern-day cricket, it’s quite difficult for a bowler to feature in all three formats regularly. Though limited-overs cricket, especially, T20 cricket has taken the world by storm, Test cricket remains the most challenging format in the sport. But with the advent of modern times, players are resorting to aggressive batting even in test matches. In this article lets discuss five most expensive overs in test cricket.
The first name in the list is of Younis Khan. During Pakistan’s tour of New Zealand in 2001, Kiwi all-rounder Craig McMillan ruthlessly smashed Younis Khan in the third Test at Hamilton, smacking 26 runs off his six balls. He scored four boundaries on the trot before depositing the fifth ball into the car park outside the ground. He ended the over with another boundary through the point region. McMillan was eventually dismissed on 98 before New Zealand declared at 407.
The second name in the list is of Danish Kaneria. Legendary West Indies batsman Brian Lara smacked 26 runs off Danish Kaneria in the 84th over of West Indies’ first innings.On the first ball, Lara stepped out and smashed Kaneria over his head for a four. On the third ball, the southpaw went on the back foot and pulled Kaneria’s delivery over mid-wicket for a six. Lara went on to score 216 runs before Kaneria dismissed him.
The third name in the list is of Harbhajan Singh. During India’s tour of Pakistan in 2006, Harbhajan Singh was on the receiving end of Afridi’s wrath. He smashed 27 runs off Harbhajan in the first innings of the first Test in Lahore. In the 136th over, Afridi smashed Harbhajan for four consecutive sixes while the fifth and sixth deliveries yielded two and one, respectively. Afridi notched up his century off just 78 balls as the game ended in a draw.
The fourth name in the list is of Joe Root. Part time bowler Root was taken to the cleaners on Day 4 by spin-bowling all-rounder, Keshav Maharaj. Maharaj smashed three boundaries on the trot before hitting back-to-back sixes off Root .The last delivery saw four byes making the over to total of 28 runs. Root took himself off the attack. Maharaj went on to score his second Test fifty before he was run out by Sam Curran.
The second last name in the list is of James Anderson. During the third Test in Perth, Australia had already piled up a match-winning lead on the board and they were looking to score quick runs. George Bailey walked out to bat and did exactly that. James Anderson walked up to bowl the 87th over and Bailey dispatched the first two balls over the boundary ropes. While the third and fourth ball yielded two runs each, Bailey cleared the long-off and the long-on boundaries, respectively, on the last two balls.
The latest addition in the list is India best bowler who is now out of limelight for quite some time, the injured Jasprit Bumrah. Bumrah batting against James Anderson turned out to be the most expensive over in the history of test cricket. 4 5wd 6nb 4 4 4 6 1 , a 35 runs over. Now that serious thrashing.
Bumrah and Anderson really enjoyed the series after, and enjoyed the banters against each other.
