Most Sixes in T20 International Cricket: Top 10 list

1. Rohit Sharma | 205 T20I Sixes

Rohit Sharma made his T20I debut in 2007 at the T20I World Cup hosted by South Africa, and there were early signs of greatness from his middle-order cameos then. After a brief setback in 2008, when Sharma was left out for the most part, he returned to be India’s important batsman in the shortest format. 

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His first T20I century came against South Africa and he went on to score four more tons, which is the joint highest alongside Australia’s Glenn Maxwell in this format at an international level. Rohit Sharma’s four other tons came against Sri Lanka, England, West Indies and Afghanistan.

The mighty Australians have been Sharma’s favourite opponent in this format against whom he has hit 29 sixes in 23 matches with Bangladesh being the second, conceding 22 sixes off his willow. Fondly called the “Hitman”, Rohit Sharma hung up his boots from T20Is after delivering the 2024 T20 World Cup title for India.   

2. Martin Guptill | 173 T20I Sixes

Martin Guptill might not have been New Zealand’s all-format star that the country desperately needed alongside Brendon McCullum, but the Auckland-born heavily built hard hitter was a beast in the T20 format. In the 122 T20I matches that Guptill played, he hit 173 sixes, often delivering the Kiwis the start they needed.
 

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 The right-handed hard-hitter possessed a short-arm pull on one leg shot that very few batsmen in the world could boast of. Though he was dismissed for a duck in his T20I debut against Australia, he often returned with consistent performances thereafter with his first century coming against South Africa in an unbeaten cause. Guptill had one other century that came against England. 

3. Jos Buttler | 137 T2OI Sixes

While the English cricket team has had numerous stars over the decades, Jos Buttler was easily the first global T20 name to come out of the cricket camp. His contributions in white ball cricket with aggressive yet consistent batting performances were one of the main reasons for the side’s success in 2019 and 2022.
 

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Buttler gained prominence as a T20 beast with the IPL when in 2022 he ended the season with 863 runs - the second-highest in the T20 league - and four centuries. Despite making his T20I debut in 2011, it wasn’t until 2016 that Buttler became a regular performer and hasn’t looked back since.

Though the Somerset-lad has only one T20I century so far, his ability to deal in sixes is what makes him extremely dangerous. He has his 137 sixes in 124 matches so far, with his favourite opponents being Australia and India, who have conceded 56 and 45 sixes from him so far.

4. Glenn Maxwell | 134 T20I Sixes

If there’s one player who holds the moniker of being the biggest entertainer in white ball cricket, it is Glenn Maxwell. Successfully executing unconventional reverse sweeps and pull shots and making them look ridiculously easy is Maxwell’s biggest forte.

He is one of Australia’s fastest run scorers, which was evident by his unbeaten 128-ball-201 against Afghanistan in the 2023 ODI World Cup and his 19-ball-50 against Tasmania years before, which is the fastest fifty in Australia's one-day domestic history.  

However, Maxwell’s way of playing comes at a cost, which is his inconsistency. He sits fourth on the list and still has as many as five T20I centuries, joint highest with Rohit Sharma. India has been Maxwell’s favourite opponent in T20Is, against whom he has hit two tons and 34 sixes. West Indies, Sri Lanka and England are the other three teams against whom he has centuries, with his sixes tally being 134 in just 113 games.

5. Surya Kumar Yadav | 133 T20I Sixes

Yet another batsman who has made six-hitting look extremely easy is India’s Surya Kumar Yadav. Having the ability to hit sixes at all parts of the ground with relative ease makes Yadav, a.k.a SKY, draw a comparison with South Africa’s great AB De Villiers who was called Mr. 360 in cricket.
 

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Surya Kumar Yadav made his debut late but wasted no time becoming India’s best clutch player alongside Hardik Pandya in white-ball cricket. His T20I career is less than three years old and Yadav already boasts of four tons in the shortest format of international cricket. His centuries have also come against big teams like England, South Africa and New Zealand apart from Sri Lanka. He has hit the most number of T20I sixes against West Indies (35).  

6. Nicholas Pooran | 132 T20I Sixes

What makes Nicholas Pooran an exciting talent is his backstory. He was met with an accident after finishing the 2014 U-19 World Cup as the fourth-highest run-scorer that saw him tearing his patella tendon, fracturing his tibia and fracturing his ankle. However, the player was born with an instinct for big shots and he took to batting effortlessly after returning.

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Pooran’s 24-ball-50 against India in 2018 forced the world to take notice of him and he hasn’t since stopped. Though the Trinidad man is yet to get his maiden T20I century, his ability to deal in sixes makes him a prized possession in T20Is and he has already whacked 132 sixes in less than 100 games.

7. Paul Stirling | 128 T20I Sixes

Had Paul Stirling not been born in Ireland, the Belfast hard-hitter could have easily been a superstar in cricket given his ability to generate immense power with very little backlift. Stirling’s straight shot down the ground and pull shot over midwicket have been a treat for sore eyes.

Having made his T20I debut way back in 2009, Stirling has hardly had a dry spell for the Irish side. 

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His ability to maintain a good strike rate has consistently kept Ireland as one of the World Cup competitors amongst the associate nations with Stirling’s first and only century coming in 2021 against Zimbabwe. The Ireland cricket team has played the most number of matches against Afghanistan and Zimbabwe with Stirling hammering 25 and 19 sixes against them, respectively.

8. Aaron Finch | 125 T20I Sixes

With a heavy build and an aggressive approach with the bat, Aaron Finch was always meant to be a T20I specialist given the format’s demand. The former Australian opener has led the nation in both ODIs and T20Is and held the title of being T20I’s highest run scorer in an inning on two occasions - 172 vs Zimbabwe in 2018 and 156 vs England in 2013.
 

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Such had been Finch’s demand in the T20 format that he ended up playing for nine IPL franchises over the years. While his only centuries came against England and Zimbabwe, his tally of 125 T20I sixes was for long counted amongst the top ranks.

9. Chris Gayle | 124 T20I Sixes

The “Universe Boss”, as Chris Gayle is often called, started playing cricket long before T20Is got introduced in the international circuit. However, as soon as the towering batter realized his strengths, he went on a T20 freelancing spree that saw him represent teams from almost every T20 cricket league around the world.

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Continuous tiffs with the West Indies cricket board kept Gayle on and off the national team until the end of his career but his ability was never questioned. His unbeaten 175 in IPL while playing for Royal Challengers Bangalore back in 2013 is still the highest individual score in the league’s 16-year history. Gayle’s insane power to cross any boundary rope across the world made him a T20I phenomenon and for long, he held the record for hitting the most number of sixes before Rohit Sharma overtook him.

Gayle’s two T20I centuries came against England and South Africa although it was Australia who were his bunnies, against whom he hammered 31 T20I sixes.       

10. Virat Kohli | 124 T20I Sixes

The second-highest run-scorer in t20Is after Rohit Sharma and boasting of the highest average from the above list, Virat Kohli has 124 sixes in the shortest format of the game. The “king of cricket”, as he is fondly called, rewrote the way the game was played with his unparalleled fitness and mentality. 
 

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Kohli recently hung his boots following the 2024 T20 World Cup with 124 sixes in 125 matches and one six off the backfoot against Harish Rauf, which was adjudged the ICC Shot of the Decade during the 2022 T20I World Cup. While his only T20I century came against Afghanistan, it was against Australia that Kohli scored the most T20I runs (794) and hit the most sixes (26).

While the advent of the T20 cricket at the international format suddenly made strong, hard-hitting batsmen superstars overnight, the game has since evolved with technically savvy visionary batsmen ruling the rooster of six hitters now. Rohit Sharma, Glenn Maxwell, and Surya Kumar Yadav are prime examples of this.