19 years on, Yuvraj Singh’s six sixes still echo from that unforgettable Durban night

There are cricket moments that belong to a match, and then there are moments that seem to belong to an entire generation. Yuvraj Singh's six sixes in an over against England on September 19, 2007, at Durban's Kingsmead remain firmly in the latter category.

India had already made a strong start in the inaugural World Twenty20, with Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir putting up half-centuries. But with the innings approaching its end, it was Yuvraj who turned a good total into something extraordinary. India were 171/3 after 17 overs when Yuvraj walked into the spotlight, with MS Dhoni at the other end.

There had been a flashpoint just before the 19th over. Yuvraj and England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff exchanged words, and the tension carried into the next over. Stuart Broad, then only 21 and playing his first major international tournament, was handed the ball.


What followed needed only six deliveries.

Yuvraj launched the first over midwicket, sent the second over square leg, carved the third over cover, smashed the fourth behind square, cleared long-on with the fifth and deposited the sixth into the stands. Six balls, six sixes, 36 runs.

The final blow also took Yuvraj to his fifty in just 12 balls — a record for the fastest fifty in T20 internationals at the time and one that remains unmatched in the format. He finished with 58 from 16 balls as India posted 218/4 and went on to beat England by 18 runs.

It was more than an extraordinary over. Yuvraj became the first batter to hit six sixes in a T20 international, joining a tiny club of batters to have achieved the feat in professional cricket.

And the World Twenty20 story did not end there.

Three days later, on the same Kingsmead ground, Yuvraj produced another explosive innings, smashing 70 from 30 balls against Australia in the semi-final to take India into the final. India won by 15 runs and advanced to a title clash with Pakistan.

That final at Johannesburg's Wanderers became the defining chapter of India's campaign. Yuvraj's Durban fireworks had helped give the young Indian team belief in a new format, and the team eventually lifted the inaugural World Twenty20 trophy.

Years later, the six sixes remain perhaps the most instantly recognisable chapter of Yuvraj's career. But remembering that night is also remembering the player behind it — the left-hander who could change a game in a handful of deliveries, who became one of India's most important limited-overs cricketers, and whose career would go on to encompass World Cup glory, battles with injury and illness, and some of Indian cricket's most enduring moments.