While India was handing over a cricketing lesson to Pakistan at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium in their latest Asia Cup 2025 face-off, Sahibzada Farhan achieved a feat that no other batter from the nation has done. He tonked Jasprit Bumrah for a couple of maximums, notably, these were the first sixes that were hit off Bumrah by Pakistan in about 400 deliveries he has bowled against them across formats.
Pakistan’s Sahibzada Farhan, left, celebrates scoring runs with batting partner Fakhar Zaman as India’s Jasprit Bumrah, right, walks away(AP)
The achievement put Farhan on cloud nine. He soon took to TikTok and shared the highlights of his innings after the game. Even though his team lost the match, his strike rate of 90.90 was below the modern T20 standards. This earned him plenty of criticism too. But, one cannot hold Farhan responsible; he did something which even the elite T20 batters struggle to do, hitting a six off Bumrah.
Let us look at some of the elite batters Bumrah has bowled against and how he has fared against them when it comes to preventing sixes. We will use a metric called the Six-Prevention Rate (SPR). Think of it as the balls-per-six tax Bumrah charges the batters.
SPR = Balls faced/Sixes hit
The higher the number, the rarer the six. If the batter has never hit him for a six, their SPR is effectively infinite.
MS Dhoni — 65 balls, 2 sixes → SPR 32.5
MS Dhoni is considered one of the greatest finishers in contemporary cricket. Yet, it took him nearly five and a half overs to hit one maximum against Bumrah.
Notably, Dhoni has hit only two sixes against Bumrah, and both came in 2017. The fact that he has bowled 28 dots out of the 65 deliveries to Dhoni emphasises the control Bumrah has over his bowling.
Andre Russell — 52 balls, 3 sixes → SPR 17.33
When the name of Andre Russell comes up, mad hitting is the only thing that probably comes to one’s mind. Russell has been a nightmare for even the best of bowlers in the world. However, when it comes to facing Bumrah, he has taken nearly three overs to hit one six. Better than Dhoni, yet if we consider the modern standards, it speaks of the exceptionality of the Indian pacer.
Virat Kohli — 101 balls, 6 sixes → SPR 16.8
The Indian maverick, Virat Kohli, has never been known for large hits. In fact, it is his precision and ability to pick up gaps that make him stand out in the crowd. However, the fact that he has taken the second least number of deliveries in this list to hit a six off Bumrah, actually shows why he is considered the greatest of his time.
Chris Gayle – 49 Balls, 1 Six → SPR 49
The Universe Boss made his name on the basis of the large hits that he was capable of. Throughout his career, Gayle became the nightmare of some great bowlers. However, when it comes to Bumrah, he was able to hit only one six in the 49 deliveries faced.
AB de Villiers — 85 balls, 8 sixes → SPR 10.62
In most of the batting lists of which AB de Villiers is a part, he appears to be the outlier. The same is in this case. While other batters have taken nearly three overs to hit a six off Bumrah, ABD hit him for a six on every 10th delivery. The range and ability of de Villiers was something that even troubled Bumrah.