#CricketInNumbers: Gayle a six away from scripting history
What's the story
Chris Gayle is known for his blitz style of batting and on Saturday, the big West Indian batsman added another special record to his name. Gayle smashed five sixes in his whirlwind knock (73) against Bangladesh. With this innings, he equaled Shahid Afridi's record for the most number of sixes in international cricket (476). Who are the other big hitters in international cricket?
Charge
Gayle, Afridi lead the proceedings in international cricket
When it comes to all three formats of the game, Afridi and Gayle have amassed 476 sixes. Gayle can gain command when he sets out to bat against Bangladesh in the first T20I, to be played on August 1. Former West Indian legend Brian Lara had hit 221 sixes and is ranked 20th. Besides Afridi, no other Pakistani batsman features in top 20.
Indian batsmen
Six Indians are in top 20
Former India skipper MS Dhoni leads the show for India with 342 sixes overall. He is on the fifth spot. MS is followed by Rohit Sharma (291). The opener ranks 7th. Former legendary trio of Sachin Tendulkar (264), Sourav Ganguly (247) and Virender Sehwag (243) are on 9th, 14th and 17th positions respectively. Yuvraj Singh (251) ranks 12th in the list.
Data
New Zealand: McCullum hit 398 maximums
As far as Kiwis are concerned, Brendon McCullum has 398 sixes to his name across all formats. He is third in the list. Besides the former Kiwi skipper, Martin Guptill (274), Chris Cairns (240) and Ross Taylor (226) also feature in top 20.
Sixes
Three Aussies and two Proteas men in top 20
Three Australians find their names in this list. They are Adam Gilchrist (262), Ricky Ponting (246) and Shane Watson (245). The trio are ranked 10th, 15th and 16th respectively. For South Africa, AB de Villiers managed 328 maximums with Jacques Kallis on 254. Only one Englishman is in top 20 and that is Eoin Morgan (249).