Most runs in one over in T20

The fast and furious style of batting in Twenty20 or T20 cricket sometimes results in some astonishing numbers, often at the expense of bowlers.

With batters aiming to score the most number of runs in the fewest balls possible, bowlers often find themselves at the receiving end of some severe punishment.

The record for the most runs scored in one over in T20 is 39, conceded by Vanuatu’s medium pacer Nalin Nipiko in a T20I match against Samoa at the 2026 T20 World Cup regional qualifier in Apia.

Batting first, Samoa's Darius Visser led the assault after he hammered Nalin Nipiko's third and the inning's 15th over to spruce his side to a respectable total after a top order collapse.

Visser hit six sixes in the over while Nipiko also delivered three no balls.

Samoa were all out in the 20th over with 174 runs on the board. Darius Visser scored 132 off 64 balls, his innings laced with five fours and 14 sixes. Vanuatu managed 164/9 in response to lose the match by 10 runs,

The 39 runs eclipsed the previous record of 38, set by New Zealand pacer James Fuller.

James Fuller, playing for English County side Gloucestershire, gave away 38 runs in an over against Sussex during the quarter-final of the Twenty20 Cup in 2012.

Bowling to fellow Kiwi cricketer Scott Styris, James Fuller started with two no-balls in the 18th over, both of which went for fours. Interestingly, the tournament’s rules gave two runs as a penalty for each no ball instead of one.

This meant, Fuller had conceded 12 runs without bowling a single legal delivery.

Scott Styris then sent the next two balls to the stands while the third one disappeared across the ropes for a four. Although the fourth was a dot ball, the final two deliveries went for a four and six respectively, taking the total runs off James Fuller’s over to 38.

Sussex scored 230/4 and ended up winning the match by 39 runs.

Darius Visser's feat was the fourth instance of a batter hitting six sixes in an over in T20 International cricket.

First, Yuvraj Singh slammed Stuart Broad for six maximums during a group stage fixture between India and England at the inaugural T20 World Cup in 2007.

In the penultimate over, the flamboyant Yuvraj Singh clobbered the ball to all parts of the ground to reach his half-century in just 12 balls.

"I just went in to slog," Yuvraj Singh said. "With two overs to go, I just thought I'd use the crease and timed it well."

India amassed 218/4 and ended victorious by 18 runs.

In 2021, West Indies’ Kieron Pollard also smashed 36 runs in one over.

Playing against Sri Lanka, Pollard went on a rampage and slammed six straight sixes in the sixth over by Akila Dananjaya, who incidentally had taken a hat-trick in his previous over.

In 2024, Nepal's Dipendra Singh Airee struck six sixes off Qatar medium pacer Kamran Khan's over, the last of the innings, during a ACC Premier Cup match at Al Amarat.

Earlier that year, Afghanistan's Karim Janat also conceded 36 runs in an over against India, but that included only five sixes. There was one no ball in the over, a four and a single too with Rohit Sharma and Rinku Singh plundering the runs.

Afghanistan's Azmatullah Omarzai also gave away 36 runs in a single over against the West Indies in the T20 World Cup 2024. While 26 of them came off Nicholas Pooran's bat, the remaining 10 were extras.

Most runs in one over in T20 International cricket

Most runs in one over in IPL

A similar run fest was witnessed during the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021.

Harshal Patel of Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) conceded 37 runs in the final over of a league stage match against Chennai Super Kings (CSK).

CSK all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja smoked five sixes and a four, along with a double, as the seven-ball over read 6, 6, 6 (no ball), 6, 2, 6, 4 on the scorecard. The onslaught took CSK’s total to 122/9. They won by 69 runs.

Harshal Patel’s 37-run over is the joint highest runs in one over in IPL.

The other instance of 37 being conceded in a single over in the IPL came in 2011, when Kochi Tuskers Kerala’s Prasanth Parameswaran was thrashed by RCB’s Chris Gayle.

Chasing Kochi Tuskers' 125, RCB opener Chris Gayle was at his explosive best. The Caribbean batter hammered the left-arm medium pacer Prasanth Parameswaran for 6, 6 (no ball), 4, 4, 6, 6, 4, to accumulate a total of 37 runs in the third over. The blitz helped RCB win the match by nine wickets.