New Title: Samoa's Darius Visser Smashes Men's T20I Records with 39 Runs in a Single Over

Samoa batter Darius Visser made history by hitting six sixes in a single over against Vanuatu in the T20 World Cup East Asia-Pacific Region Qualifier game in Apia on Tuesday. With a total of 39 runs in that over, Visser set a new record for the most runs scored in a single over in T20I history, surpassing the previous record of 36 runs achieved five times before in the format.

The record was achieved in the 15th over of the first innings bowled by Vanuatu's Nalin Nipiko, which included three no balls. The first three balls were all deposited over deep midwicket by Visser for three sixes after which Nipiko delivered a front-foot no-ball. The free hit was then sent for six over the leg side, followed by a dot when Visser hit a straight shot that rattled the stumps at the non-striker's end.

Nipiko then overstepped again, only to follow it up with a no-ball for height that was pulled by Visser for six over fine leg. The last ball of the over was a low full toss outside off stump that Visser expertly flicked over deep square leg to achieve the 39-run over.

Previously, there were five instances of a team scoring 36 runs in an over in T20Is. In 2007, India's Yuvraj Singh became the first man to achieve it by hitting six sixes against England's Stuart Broad. West Indies' Kieron Pollard did the same in 2021 against Sri Lanka, as did Nepal's Dipendra Singh Airee in 2024.

The other two instances, which did not include six sixes, but helped by extras was when West Indies - aided by Nicholas Pooran - scored 36 runs against Afghanistan in the 2024 T20 World Cup, and when the Indian pair of Rohit Sharma and Rinku Singh combined to score 36 against Afghanistan, also in 2024.

Visser's efforts make him the first Samoa men's batter to score a T20I century. His 14 sixes in the innings are also the fifth-highest of all time. The 132 runs scored by Visser, out of the team total of 174, also makes him take the top spot for the highest percentage of runs in a single T20I innings, with his contribution of 75.86% going past the previous record of 75.1% achieved by Aaron Finch. The second-highest score on the Samoa scorecard was 16 by captain Caleb Jasmat.

Visser also picked up a wicket as Samoa restricted Vanuatu to 164 for 9 to win the game by ten runs.