In T20 cricket every ball is a gamble. The bowler gets no time to recover and the batter has no reason to wait. But once in a while, a single over arrives that doesn't just turn a match — it rewrites the record book itself. What follows is a tour through five moments in T20 International history when one over leaked so many runs that everyone watching was left stunned, with each chapter outdoing the one before it.
Durban 2007: Where It All Began
The foundation of this whole story was laid at the very first T20 World Cup in 2007, during a fierce India–England contest at Durban. Tempers boiled over when England's Andrew Flintoff exchanged words with Yuvraj Singh. That spat would prove disastrous — not for Yuvraj, but for Stuart Broad, who had to bowl the next over.
Yuvraj sent the first delivery of the 19th over sailing over the boundary. Then came the second, third, fourth, fifth and final ball — the same sight every time. Broad had no answer, Flintoff stood dumbfounded, and the entire ground roared 'Yuvi, Yuvi'. Six sixes and 36 runs in a single over. It was the first time in T20 International cricket that a batter had piled up that many runs in one over, and the race for the 'most expensive over' was officially on.
Kieron Pollard Repeats History 14 Years Later
Exactly 14 years after Yuvraj's feat, history watched itself unfold again in 2021 at Antigua. West Indies captain Kieron Pollard found himself facing Sri Lanka's spinner Akila Dananjaya. The twist: only moments earlier in that same match, Dananjaya had taken a hat-trick, so the night should have been his. But once Pollard dug in, he treated Dananjaya's spin like straw, launching six towering sixes in a row to hammer 36 runs off the over. With that, Pollard became the second batter in the world to pull off the feat in a T20 International.
Two Batters, One Over in Bengaluru
Usually it is a single batter who lays waste to an over, but in January 2024 a different script was being written at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. In an India–Afghanistan clash, Karim Janat came on to bowl the final over with Indian captain Rohit Sharma on strike.
The first ball went for four; the second was a no-ball that Rohit dispatched for six. He smashed another six off the next delivery, then took a single to hand the strike to Rinku Singh. Now it was Rinku's turn — and he closed out the over by clubbing three consecutive sixes off the last three balls. The over yielded 36 runs in all, and for the first time in history two batters had combined to score 36 off a single over.
Kushal Bhurtel Breaks the 36-Run Mark
The wheel of time turned further, and in May 2026 a thrilling new chapter was added on Singapore soil, where Nepal took on China. Nepal's Kushal Bhurtel was up against China's bowler Chen Zhuo Yue. Kushal rattled the Chinese side by striking five sixes in a row off the first five balls. Under pressure, the bowler then sent down a wide, and Kushal cracked yet another six off the final legal delivery. Remarkably, even without hitting six sixes, the extra run from the wide pushed the over's total to 37 — eclipsing the 36-run record jointly held by Yuvraj and Pollard.
Darius Visser's Everest of 39
But cricket is a game of uncertainties, and records exist only to be broken. In August 2024, during a Samoa–Vanuatu match at Apia, something unfolded that nobody had imagined. Samoa's Darius Visser tore the record book apart in a single over bowled by Vanuatu's Nalin Nipiko.
The over was nothing short of a rollercoaster. Visser opened with three consecutive sixes. Then Nipiko bowled a no-ball, which Visser also lofted for six. The next delivery too was a no-ball. The pressure was so crushing that Nipiko followed it up with yet another no-ball. Off the two remaining balls, Visser smashed two more glorious sixes. So it was six sixes off the legal deliveries, plus the bowler's three no-balls — together they made it the most expensive over in T20 International history. The over leaked 39 runs in total. Darius Visser has built such an Everest of runs in a single over that reaching its summit will be a colossal challenge for any batter in the years to come.
