At sixes and sevens!

Maharashtra captain Ruturaj Gaikwad 220 not out smashed his way into the record books on Monday by slamming seven sixes in an over from Uttar Pradeshrsquos leftarm spinner Shiva Singh in the Vijay Hazare Trophy quarterfinals at AhmedabadGaikwad 25 who missed the last four games of the competition due to a wrist injury helped his team beat the former champions by 58 runs to enter the semifinals His seven sixes in one over are the maximum hit in the history of List A cricketCautious start to epic knockThe Maharashtra opener didnrsquot go bangbang at the start of his innings opting to concentrate on singles However he accelerated after reaching his century and capitalised in the penultimate over which fetched him 43 runs His 159ball knock was laced with 10 fours and 16 sixes Six No 1 and 3 in the 49th over zoomed past the midwicket region The second one was over long on The fourth sailed over long off Shivarsquos next delivery was a noball and Gaikwad decided to loft it straight to the sightscreen of the Narendra Modi Stadiumrsquos B Ground at Motera The free hit was exploited by a hit to long on Ditto the final delivery Gaikwad is probably inspired by his Chennai Super Kings skipper MS Dhoni under whom he has played three IPL editions 2020 2021 and 2022Maharashtrarsquos head coach Santosh Jedhe was over the moon ldquoHe Gaikwad was totally positive lsquoSir I want to play this game anyhowrsquo he told me It was an unbelievable and exceptional knockrdquo the former Maharashtra allrounder told midday on Monday Net gains way back thenGaikwad provided the first signs of his bighitting ability 10 seasons ago when he gave his bat a workout while practising at the Dilip Vengsarkar Academy nets in Pune The Academyrsquos coach Mohan Jadhav revealed yesterday that he dissuaded him from going for those big hits as he was only 14 and didnrsquot have the required strength to do so in a match Gaikwad according to Jadhav wrote about this in his diary lsquoSir told me not to hit on the uprsquoldquoSix years later we Vengsarkar Academy were playing an Invitation League game against Deccan Gymkhana at PYC Hindu Gymkhana in Pune We were chasing 260270 runs and lost early wickets but he was in a different mood that day and smashed 11 sixes to help win the game with 160 not out Later that evening he sent me the screenshot of that diary page reminding me about the time when I stopped him from hitting those big shots in the netsAlso ReadRuturaj Gaikwad smashes ton against New Zealand lsquoAldquoRuturaj is like a silent killer of opponents But I never expected he would hit six or seven sixes in an over Hersquos a batsman who loves big innings while playing along the carpet and on some occasions going for big shots Todayrsquos knock showed his improved confidence levelsrdquo Jadhav remarkedGaikwadrsquos 220 helped Maharashtra post3305 in 50 overs before UP were bowled out for 272 in 474 overs with Rajvardhan Hangargekar claiming 553 Aryan Juyalrsquos 159 for UP went in vain