Stats: Most Sixes in T20Is - Who Leads the Table?

Twenty20 Cricket is all about entertainment; stumps flying, boundaries being struck and innovations coming into otherwise traditional cricket. Seeing a ball taking the aerial route out of boundary is the worst scene for any bowler.

T20 Cricket has made this scene much more frequent for bowlers over the past 10 years when T20I cricket was first played. Since then, many destructive bats have sent the ball out of the park over 3958 times. This takes the ratio of sixes in T20Is at almost once after every 20th ball – which is in sharp contrast to once in about 103 balls in ODIs.

We have decided to dig some numbers to find out the batsmen who have struck most sixes in T20Is to-date. Normally, it would be safe to guess Chris Gayle as the man with most sixes in T20Is given his obsession to toss the ball over the boundary line, but, actually, he is not leading the scorecard here.

It is only because he has played only 45 T20Is in his career so far. So, it would be better to check the number of balls taken by a batsmen to hit each six on average and also the sixes per innings. Given below is the list of players with at least 15 sixes in career, and it is placed in descending order with respect to sixes/innings. At the end of table is given the analysis or summary of statistics for easy reading.

Player Name	Span	Matches	Innings	Runs	Ball Faced	6s	Runs in 6s	Balls per six	Sixes per Innings
CH Gayle (WI)	2006-2015	45	43	1406	986	87	522	11.3	2.02
Yuvraj Singh (India)	2007-2014	40	37	968	669	63	378	10.6	1.70
SR Watson (Aus)	2006-2015	49	47	1164	808	69	414	11.7	1.47
AJ Finch (Aus)	2011-2014	22	22	756	496	32	192	15.5	1.45
LE Bosman (SA)	2006-2010	14	14	323	219	20	120	11.0	1.43
BB McCullum (NZ)	2005-2015	71	70	2140	1571	91	546	17.3	1.30
DA Warner (Aus)	2009-2015	53	53	1448	1046	66	396	15.8	1.25
Najibullah Zadran (Afg)	2012-2015	16	13	276	201	16	96	12.6	1.23
MN Samuels (WI)	2007-2015	40	38	952	778	46	276	16.9	1.21
RE Levi (SA)	2012-2012	13	13	236	167	15	90	11.1	1.15
GJ Maxwell (Aus)	2012-2015	25	21	387	242	23	138	10.5	1.10
MN Waller (Zim)	2011-2015	16	15	290	196	16	96	12.3	1.07
TLW Cooper (Neth)	2012-2014	15	15	389	286	16	96	17.9	1.07
MJ Guptill (NZ)	2009-2015	52	50	1414	1146	53	318	21.6	1.06
RR Patel (Kenya)	2008-2013	22	19	345	298	20	120	14.9	1.05
MDKJ Perera (SL)	2013-2015	22	22	596	448	23	138	19.5	1.05
JA Morkel (SA)	2005-2015	50	38	572	402	39	234	10.3	1.03
CL White (Aus)	2007-2014	47	44	984	740	44	264	16.8	1.00
EJG Morgan (Eng)	2009-2015	54	53	1285	966	53	318	18.2	1.00
DR Smith (WI)	2006-2015	33	32	582	474	31	186	15.3	0.97
SJ Myburgh (Neth)	2012-2015	22	22	545	442	21	126	21.0	0.95
Asghar Stanikzai (Afg)	2010-2015	24	21	437	452	20	120	22.6	0.95
AD Hales (Eng)	2011-2015	37	37	1111	817	35	210	23.3	0.95
YK Pathan (India)	2007-2012	22	18	236	161	17	102	9.5	0.94
DJ Hussey (Aus)	2008-2012	39	36	756	623	34	204	18.3	0.94
Rizwan Cheema (Can)	2008-2013	16	16	238	219	15	90	14.6	0.94
KA Pollard (WI)	2008-2015	45	39	664	467	36	216	13.0	0.92
F du Plessis (SA)	2012-2015	26	26	825	612	24	144	25.5	0.92
C Kieswetter (Eng)	2010-2012	25	25	526	470	23	138	20.4	0.92
E Chigumbura (Zim)	2006-2015	37	36	635	421	33	198	12.8	0.92
Imran Nazir (Pak)	2007-2012	25	24	500	370	22	132	16.8	0.92
SK Raina (India)	2006-2015	46	40	983	731	36	216	20.3	0.90
V Sehwag (India)	2006-2012	19	18	394	271	16	96	16.9	0.89
KP Pietersen (Eng)	2005-2013	37	36	1176	831	32	192	26.0	0.89
DJ Bravo (WI)	2006-2015	55	50	991	829	44	264	18.8	0.88
JP Duminy (SA)	2007-2015	63	58	1528	1247	51	306	24.5	0.88
JH Kallis (SA)	2005-2012	25	23	666	558	20	120	27.9	0.87
RG Sharma (India)	2007-2015	44	37	867	676	32	192	21.1	0.86
SB Styris (NZ)	2005-2010	31	29	578	483	25	150	19.3	0.86
Mohammad Shahzad (Afg)	2010-2015	36	36	960	733	31	186	23.6	0.86
CK Kapugedera (SL)	2006-2015	25	21	376	300	18	108	16.7	0.86
JD Ryder (NZ)	2008-2014	22	21	457	358	18	108	19.9	0.86
Shafiqullah (Afg)	2010-2015	23	20	282	200	17	102	11.8	0.85
ADS Fletcher (WI)	2008-2015	24	24	427	383	20	120	19.2	0.83
MEK Hussey (Aus)	2005-2012	38	30	721	529	25	150	21.2	0.83
V Kohli (India)	2010-2015	30	28	1016	766	23	138	33.3	0.82
GJ Bailey (Aus)	2012-2014	28	25	470	334	20	120	16.7	0.80
H Masakadza (Zim)	2006-2015	38	38	1002	881	30	180	29.4	0.79
LMP Simmons (WI)	2007-2015	34	33	761	668	26	156	25.7	0.79
GC Smith (SA)	2005-2011	33	33	982	770	26	156	29.6	0.79
MJ Lumb (Eng)	2010-2014	27	27	552	413	21	126	19.7	0.78
ST Jayasuriya (SL)	2006-2011	31	30	629	487	23	138	21.2	0.77
Shahid Afridi (Pak)	2006-2015	87	81	1275	860	62	372	13.9	0.77
Misbah-ul-Haq (Pak)	2007-2012	39	34	788	715	26	156	27.5	0.76
LRPL Taylor (NZ)	2006-2015	64	58	1137	953	44	264	21.7	0.76
JEC Franklin (NZ)	2006-2013	38	31	463	391	23	138	17.0	0.74
JDP Oram (NZ)	2005-2012	36	30	474	339	22	132	15.4	0.73
PD Collingwood (Eng)	2005-2011	35	33	583	459	24	144	19.1	0.73
Abdul Razzaq (Pak)	2006-2013	32	29	393	337	21	126	16.0	0.72
Mashrafe Mortaza (Ban)	2006-2015	33	25	299	216	18	108	12.0	0.72
NLTC Perera (SL)	2010-2015	40	33	469	306	23	138	13.3	0.70
LJ Wright (Eng)	2007-2014	51	45	759	554	31	186	17.9	0.69
Q de Kock (SA)	2012-2015	22	22	513	422	15	90	28.1	0.68
JC Buttler (Eng)	2011-2015	40	34	562	420	23	138	18.3	0.68
Mohammad Nabi (Afg)	2010-2015	33	30	433	337	20	120	16.9	0.67
Umar Akmal (Pak)	2009-2015	68	65	1421	1158	43	258	26.9	0.66
BRM Taylor (Zim)	2006-2014	26	26	594	480	17	102	28.2	0.65
KJ Coetzer (Scot)	2008-2015	28	26	587	535	17	102	31.5	0.65
DA Miller (SA)	2010-2015	37	32	612	479	20	120	24.0	0.63
Ahmed Shehzad (Pak)	2009-2015	37	37	908	784	23	138	34.1	0.62
Nawroz Mangal (Afg)	2010-2015	30	30	454	415	18	108	23.1	0.60
DPMD Jayawardene (SL)	2006-2014	55	55	1493	1121	33	198	34.0	0.60
W Barresi (Neth)	2012-2015	27	27	518	418	16	96	26.1	0.59
DJG Sammy (WI)	2007-2015	60	47	526	346	27	162	12.8	0.57
Shakib Al Hasan (Ban)	2006-2015	38	38	843	672	21	126	32.0	0.55
Kamran Akmal (Pak)	2006-2014	54	49	897	745	27	162	27.6	0.55
Samiullah Shenwari (Afg)	2010-2015	34	31	506	432	17	102	25.4	0.55
PW Borren (Neth)	2008-2015	35	31	527	435	17	102	25.6	0.55
KJ O'Brien (Ire)	2008-2015	45	39	508	419	21	126	20.0	0.54
AB de Villiers (SA)	2006-2015	63	60	1167	927	32	192	29.0	0.53
PR Stirling (Ire)	2009-2015	30	30	666	520	16	96	32.5	0.53
MS Dhoni (India)	2006-2015	52	47	874	750	25	150	30.0	0.53
Mohammad Hafeez (Pak)	2006-2015	68	66	1432	1244	34	204	36.6	0.52
AD Mathews (SL)	2009-2015	57	43	739	612	22	132	27.8	0.51
RS Bopara (Eng)	2008-2014	38	35	711	599	17	102	35.2	0.49
Mahmudullah (Ban)	2007-2015	37	32	411	396	15	90	26.4	0.47
Mushfiqur Rahim (Ban)	2006-2015	43	37	569	492	17	102	28.9	0.46
TM Dilshan (SL)	2006-2015	66	65	1590	1314	27	162	48.7	0.42
KC Sangakkara (SL)	2006-2014	56	53	1382	1156	20	120	57.8	0.38
Shoaib Malik (Pak)	2006-2015	67	63	1178	1077	22	132	49.0	0.35

Most Sixes in Career

• There is a total of 90 players with at least 15 sixes in T20Is.
• Brendon McCullum has hit most sixes in T20Is (91). Chris Gayle has struck 87 sixes and is on 2nd spot. No other player has hit more than 70.
• For India, Yuvraj Singh leads the list with 63 sixes.
• There are 9 players with at least 50 sixes in T20Is. (2 each from Aus, NZ and 1 each from Pak, Ind, WI, SA and Eng).

Sixes per innings

• Chris Gayle is on the top of the list with 2.02 sixes/innings. The next on the list is the man who struck six 6s in an over, Yuvraj Singh, at 1.70.
• There are only 20 players among these 90 who have struck sixes equal to or more than the innings they played in.
• Eoin Morgan and Craig White are the only 2 players to have hit exactly the same number of sixes as the innings they played.
• Veteran players like Dilshan, Sangakkara and Shoaib Malik are at the bottom of the list, which shows they rely more on fours and running between the wickets than sixes.

Balls per sixes

• There are 45 players who have taken less than 20 balls per six (the overall average with which a six is usually struck in T20Is).
• Yousuf Pathan leads the table with a six after every 9.5 balls, followed by Albie Morkel (10.3) and Glenn Maxwell (10.5).
• Yuvraj Singh’s 10.6 is the best for any batsman who has faced at least 500 balls.
• The table is again lead from the bottom by the three ground-shot players- Dilshan, Sangakkara and Malik.
• Interestingly, in this chart, among the bottom 7 positions, 6 are occupied by either Pakistani or Sri Lankan Players (3 each). Ravi Bopara is the sole exception in the bottom 7 positions.