The England middle-order batsman Liam Livingstone hit the biggest six of the T20 World Cup 2021 yesterday off the bowling of Kagiso Rabada at Sharjah cricket stadium. Launching a length ball over the midwicket boundary, Livingstone sent it 112 m into the stands and surpassed the length covered by the West Indies power hitter Andre Russell in the first game of the day.
Russell had hit a 111 m six off the bowling of Mitchell Starc in the Australia Vs West Indies game played at Abu Dhabi cricket stadium in the afternoon yesterday.
When Liam Livingstone walked in to bat against South Africa yesterday, the required run rate for England was over 13 and the South African speedsters Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje had three overs left in their quota together. Livingstone knew if he had to take England close to the target, he had to take Kagiso Rabada on and that’s what he did.
Liam Livingstone hit three consecutive sixes off Kagiso Rabada in 16th over of England innings
Rabada came on to bowl the 16th over of the innings and the very first ball was in the slot and in the middle and off stump, which was surprising from Rabada because ideally the correct line to bowl to Livingstone at that point of time was outside the off stump.
Livingstone was trying to swing everything to the leg side and if Rabada had bowled it on the 5th or the 6th stump, he would have tried to drag it to the leg side and might have mistimed one.
But, just as Livingstone got one on a slightly straighter line, a mighty swing of the willow sent the ball sailing way back into the crowd. That massive six created so much pressure on Rabada that he ended up erring on his length and line on the next two deliveries as well, and Livingstone dispatched those into the stands again.
Liam Livingstone 3 Consecutive Sixes In Kagiso Rabada'$ Over.#ICCWorldTwenty202021 pic.twitter.com/BiydhRLHie
— Sajid Lodhi Najafi (@SajidLodhi19) November 6, 2021
However, Rabada eventually corrected his line from the 4th ball onwards and managed to minimize the damage in that over. South Africa later defended their total of 189 successfully and handed England their first defeat in the tournament. South Africa, however, got eliminated despite winning 4 out of 5 games because of net run rate (NRR).
