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West Indies 134 for 6 (Pollard 38, Hasaranga 3-12) beat Sri Lanka 131 for 9 (Nissanka 39, McCoy 2-25) by four wickets
Antigua: Akila Dananjaya went from hero to zero in the space of two overs, claiming a hat-trick before being smashed for six sixes by Kieron Pollard as West Indies beat Sri Lanka by four wickets in their first Twenty20 international at Antigua on Wednesday.
Pollard strode out to the crease in the fourth over after Dananjaya had dismissed Evin Lewis, Chris Gayle and Nicholas Pooran off consecutive deliveries to leave West Indies reeling at 52-3 in pursuit of 132.
But the West Indies skipper tore into unconventional off-spinner Dananjaya in his next over, taking 36 runs and becoming only the third man to hit six sixes in an international match, emulating Herschelle Gibbs and Yuvraj Singh.
Pollard was dismissed for 38 in the following over by Wanindu Hasaranga but Jason Holder and Dwayne Bravo completed the chase with more than six overs to spare.
The other players to achieve the feat include Garry Sobers (1968) and Ravi Shastri (1985) doing so in first-class games, Gibbs (2007) in a one-dayer, Yuvraj (2007) in a T20, and Ross Whiteley (2017) and Hazratullah Zazai (2018) in domestic T20 games.
Pollard’s 6*6
— AlreadyGotBanned 😄 (@KirketVideoss) March 4, 2021
How lucky are we to have @irbishi in the comm box 🔥#WivSL #SLvWi #Pollard #KieronPollard https://t.co/BhdliaYRap pic.twitter.com/1jmLXIHiwD
Only eight men have hit six sixes in an over in all forms of cricket with fellow West Indian Garfield Sobers the first to do so in an English county game in 1968.
West Indies' openers Evin Lewis and Lendl Simmons bludgeoned 52 off the first 20 balls as the two-time T20 World Cup winners looked comfortably on course.
However, having hit three sixes off three balls off Mathews' opening over, Lewis was caught by Danushka Gunathilaka in the deep off Dananjaya for a brisk 28.
That brought 41-year-old Chris Gayle to the crease for his first international appearance in two years.
But he lasted just one ball when he was plumb lbw to Dananjaya who then completed his hat-trick by having Nicholas Pooran caught behind by Niroshan Dickwella.
The West Indies were 52-3 which soon became 62-4 when leg-spinner Wanindu Hasaranga dismissed Simmons, the opener having made 26, before Pollard launched his demolition job.
Hasaranga survived the carnage and finished with figures of 3-12 off his four overs.
Despite his hat-trick, Dananjaya's four overs cost 62 runs.
Sri Lanka, bidding to win a match for the first time in a year, made a below-par 131-9.
The tourists were asked to bat by the 2012 and 2016 world champions with Pathum Nissanka marking his Sri Lanka debut by top scoring with 39 off 34 balls including four fours and one of his team's three sixes.
The 22-year-old batsman shared a 51-run second wicket partnership with opener Dickwella, who made 33.
The second and third games in the series also take place at the Coolidge Cricket Ground on 5 and 7 March, to be followed by three one-day internationals and two Tests.
Sri Lanka will look to level the series when the second T20 begins on Friday.
