On July 13, Indian skipper Rohit Sharma entered the history books to immortalise his chapter in ODI cricket. By scoring 5 sixes in a match against England at The Oval, he became the very first Indian player to hit 250 sixes in ODI cricket.
Though he is India’s best when it comes to hitting sixes in the 50-over format of the game, where pacing one’s innings and knowing when and how to switch gears is the key, Sharma is still fourth on the overall list.
Some of the biggest names of world cricket have shown how to master the art of power-hitting in this tricky format, and Sharma has done his bit perfectly to emulate the legends of yesteryears.
Check out the four players with 250 or more sixes in ODI cricket:
#1 Shahid Afridi – 351 sixes
Shahid Afridi is the only player to have struck 350+ sixes in ODI cricket
The name ‘Shahid Afridi’ elicits a mixed response. Some remember him for his power-hitting, which earned him the nickname ‘Boom Boom.’ Others do not have as good an outlook towards the former Pakistani all-rounder, as they often talk about his ducks.
However, when we analyze his stats from a completely neutral perspective, his power-hitting certainly trumps the ducks he has had along the way. With 351 sixes in 398 ODI matches, he sits atop the list of ODI cricketers with the most sixes.
Afridi’s best knock in ODI cricket, purely in terms of his sixes, came against Sri Lanka in 1996. In the game at Nairobi, the Pakistani superstar smashed 11 sixes to accumulate 102 runs from only 40 deliveries.
Besides that, he also was superb against India in Kanpur. In this 2005 game, Afridi scored 102 runs as well, this time off 46 deliveries. He smashed 9 sixes in this encounter, while he got 8 sixes to his name in a 2002 game against New Zealand in Sharjah.
#2 Chris Gayle – 331 sixes
Chris Gayle is known as the ‘Universe Boss’ by his fans, but if we consider limited-overs cricket as the universe, he is indeed the actual boss. He has scored 331 sixes in 301 ODI matches, making him only the second player after Afridi to smash 300+ sixes in the 50-over format.
His best performance came against Zimbabwe in 2015. In that match in Canberra, the lad from Kingston struck 16 sixes, as he went on to score 215 runs from only 147 deliveries. While that inning was certainly special, Gayle also has played three other knocks in ODIs where he has scored 10+ sixes.
Two of those were against England in 2019, coming only a week apart. In one game at St George’s, he struck 14 sixes to accumulate 162 runs from 97 deliveries. In the other match at Bridgetown, he hit 12 sixes to amass 135 runs from 129 deliveries.
The other instance of Gayle smashing 10+ sixes in an ODI game is from 2018 when West Indies and the United Arab Emirates locked horns at Harare. In the process of scoring a 91-ball 123, he smashed as many as 11 sixes.
#3 Sanath Jayasuriya – 270 sixes
Silky craftsman Sanath Jayasuriya was also a natural power-hitter
Unlike the first two mentions on our list, Sanath Jayasuriya was not particularly all about power and muscle. The former Sri Lankan opening batter was a craftsman, known predominantly for his exquisite stroke play.
That being said, 270 sixes in 445 ODI matches prove why he indeed was one of Sri Lanka’s biggest power-hitters. Jayasuriya has crossed the 150-run mark on more than one occasion, but if we are to consider his sixes, his best knock was a 65-ball 134 against Pakistan.
It came in 1996, at a match in Singapore. 2007 was the dusk of his career, but he still managed to smash 7 sixes against Bangladesh at Port of Spain. Besides that, he has scored 6 sixes in an ODI game on four different occasions.
Three of these came against New Zealand – once in Bloemfontein, once in Auckland and once in Sharjah. Besides that, he also scored 6 sixes against Bangladesh in Karachi in 2008.
#4 Rohit Sharma – 250 sixes
In the last entry on this list, Sharma stands in the fourth position with 250 sixes from 233 ODI appearances, Though Gayle and Afridi seem to be a bit too far away currently, it will be fair to say that the Indian skipper is expected to get past Jayasuriya fairly easily.
His 264-run knock against Sri Lanka at Kolkata happens to be his best ODI innings, but if we are to consider the number of sixes, it only ranks third with 9 sixes. The 35-year-old scored the most sixes in a game against Australia in 2013.
This match was played in Bengaluru, and Sharma struck 16 monstrous hits to score 209 runs off 158 deliveries. Ranking second on this list is another knock that came against Sri Lanka – back in 2017.
He scored 12 sixes in that fixture in the process of scoring an unbeaten 208 from 153 deliveries. Fourth and fifth on Sharma’s list are knocks against West Indies and Australia respectively. The former came in Guwahati in 2018, where he hit 8 sixes, while the latter came in Perth in 2016, where he hit 7 sixes.