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✪ The thrill of the last-ball six from Srikar Bharat and what’s special about it?
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Senior cricket writer & analyst
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The final day of the league stage of the IPL in the UAE ended with a last-ball six victory. Srikar Bharat of Royal Challengers Bangalore executed that hit. In addition to the thrill of a great finish to a match, there is much more to it that we can learn.
Srikar Bharat celebrates his last ball six. Photo: IPL/BCCI
What is so special about a last-ball six? Surely it is a great finish to the match and a great boost for cricket. Srikar Bharat did it for Royal Challengers Bangalore against Delhi Capitals at the Dubai International Stadium on Friday (October 8, 2021). If you analyse a last ball six closely, there is a lot to learn from it.
A last-ball six is thrilling and exciting for supporters of the winning team only. They literally dance their way home. On the other hand, the losing team fan gets so upset since they believe that a win has been hit right under their nose.
The batsman who hit the shot will be long remembered for this act and it remains as a golden feather in his cap. People still talk about Javed Miandad’s last ball six against Chetan Sharma in 1986 at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium. Since the number of matches were far fewer those days, it was considered to be a very big incident. It was also a 50 over match since the Twenty20 format did not exist then.
It is interesting to note that in the IPL hitting a six off the final ball when five runs were required has happened twice before Bharat did it. Dwayne Bravo had had done it in 2012 and Mahendra Singh Dhoni in 2016.
Srikar Bharat during the match-winning partnership with Glenn Maxwell. Photo: RCB Twitter
The bowler who gets hit has to endure the embarrassment for a long time. Cricket has a remedy for such bowlers too. If that bowler rises above that incident and keeps producing great spells, this blemish fades away and hardly gets mentioned later on.
So, if Bangalore’s Avesh Khan, who was hit by Bharat for the six, produces some great spells in the play-off matches, he could well be talked about as a hero too. That is the beauty of cricket. Many consider a last ball six to be a fluke. No doubt, to be able to hit the last ball for a six requires luck as in getting the right delivery and good shot timing.
Bharat’s post match comment on his six has a big message. He said: “I wasn’t nervous at any point and I was just looking for the right ball and the opportunity to hit it out. I have worked hard, I believe nothing comes for free.”
The high point of his statement is not to be nervous. The saying that “Fortune favours the brave” is apt in such circumstances. Many a time we have seen an attempted six landing up being caught. This is mainly due to nervousness stealing the strength and timing needed for such a shot. There is also a lot of hard work that one needs to puts in to master these big shots.
It is also interesting to note that such last minute acts in life turn special on many occasions. Sometimes a last minute revision could give you clues for some problems to succeed in an exam. So the message from this last minute act from Bharat is that be it cricket, football (a last minute goal) or in any sport (a last minute move), it can yield a reward. All that one needs to do is to have is faith, stay positive and never give up trying till the last minute. This applies to life and almost anything we do even if the odds are heavily against us.
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