The IPL is all about big six hitting and huge celebrations. Since the inaugural season, when the crowd witnessed a belligerent Brendon McCullum, the IPL has attracted big hitters from all over the world and viewers have been treated to some delightful smacking of the ball.
While the T20 format itself was slowly gaining popularity in world cricket after 2007, IPL fueled the change with a spectacular maiden season. Things only got better in subsequent years but one thing that never changed was the number of sixes nailed.
Extra Cover: IPL 2017: 5 players with most sixes in IPL history
Chris Gayle leads the list of six hitters with an astonishing 251 sixes in 92 matches. Three Indians follow him – Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina and Virat Kohli. AB de Villiers, Mr. 360, completes the list of top five six hitters in the IPL from season 1.
But do you know the men who have hit the maximum maximums in one IPL game? Let us take a glance at the top five.
#5 AB de Villiers – 12 (RCB vs GL, 14 May 2016)
The 44th match of the 2016 edition of the IPL saw carnage from AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli. The duo had already attracted attention with their impeccable batsmanship right through the tournament but they reserved their best for this day.
de Villiers walked in at one drop after Gayle was dismissed early and got into his groove. He smashed the chinaman Shivil Kaushik for a backfoot six over extra cover before unleashing some powerful shots to race to a fantastic hundred in the company of Kohli.
He launched Praveen Kumar for three sixes in an over to move to 99. He completed the formalities with a couple of sixes in the next over bowled by Jadeja. Three sixes off Dwyane Bravo took his tally to 12 in the game and fifth on the list of most sixes in a single innings.
#4 Chris Gayle – 12 (RCB vs Kings XI, 6 May 2015)
The tall West Indian opener smashed a mesmerising hundred to power RCB to a 200+ total in their home game against Kings XI Punjab in 2015. Gayle was at his destructive best and overshadowed de Villiers to guide RCB to 226.
Axar Patel and Karanveer Singh were hit all over the park as Gayle was in a belligerent mood right from the outset. Back-to-back sixes off Mitchell Johnson in the second over of the game kickstarted his knock. He went on to latch onto some loose balls from the Punjab spinners and raced to a 48 ball hundred.
The West Indian was eventually dismissed by Patel in the 17th over of the game but he had reached 117 by then that included 12 hits over the fence. Gayle's six-hitting exploits in the IPL have been so frequent that the 12 sixes came as no big surprise.
#3 Chris Gayle – 13 (RCB vs DD, 17 May 2012)
Chris Gayle latched onto some rather listless bowling by Delhi in the 2012 edition of the tournament. The big-hitting opener was rather patient till the eighth over as he sauntered along to 25 off 22 balls with just a single six.
But from then on, he looked like the Gayle we all know and love. He smashed Venugopal Rao and Pawan Negi for a six each before dispatching Irfan Pathan for three sixes in an over. Three more followed in Negi's next as Gayle moved into the nineties.
He soon reached his hundred at a strike rate greater than 200 and celebrated it with twin sixes off Umesh Yadav. Gayle remained unbeaten on 128 off 62 balls with 13 maximums, equalling Brendon McCullum's record set in 2008, as RCB raced to 215.
#2 Brendon McCullum – 13 (KKR vs RCB, 18 Apr 2008)
The former New Zealand skipper set the tournament alight with arguably the most memorable knock in its opening match in the inaugural 2008 edition. Against a rather pedestrian-looking Royal Challengers bowling attack, the Kiwi opener bludgeoned sixes to all corners of the park.
McCullum was destructive against the likes of Jacques Kallis, Ashley Noffke and Sunil Joshi. He took apart the part-time spinner, Cameron White, for 24 in an over to race to his 90s. McCullum soon crossed his hundred but pressed down on the accelerator even further.
Five sixes followed in the last two overs of the innings as McCullum crossed his 150. He remained unbeaten on 158 with 13 maximums as KKR posted a spectacular 222 in the tournament opener. RCB, in return, were bowled out for 82.
#1 Chris Gayle – 17 (RCB vs Pune Warriors, 23 Apr 2013)
Chris Gayle soared past Brendon McCullum's record in the 2013 edition with some of the most spectacular hitting T20 has ever witnessed. He launched a scything attack on the Pune Warriors franchise, unleashing 17 sixes in an eye-catching display of power and timing.
The West Indian opener had previously smashed 13 in an innings but on that day he went a step further, breaking the record for the highest ever T20 score. He went past Zimbabwean, Hamilton Masakadza's 162 and posted an unbeaten 175.
The Pune team looked clueless against some mind-numbing striking from the southpaw. He helped RCB to a record total of 263/5 in the allotted 20 overs. The opener smashed four sixes off an over twice in the game – one each against Finch and Mitchell Marsh – as he raced to a record 175*.
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