Introduction of Twenty20 has changed the way cricket has been played around the world and it also had massive influence on other formats like 50-overs and Test cricket. 400 is being scored frequently in one day cricket and test matches are getting over within 4 days on average and sometime even three days. Its largely down to players getting so use to fast pace of twenty20 cricket that it becomes a habit in other formats as well. Today we take a look at top 10 biggest six hitters in all formats combined.
Why Shahid Afridi is the biggest six hitter in cricket history ?
When it comes to sixes, Shahid Afridi is in the league of his own having hit 476 sixes in his career which spanned around 20 years. Majority of his sixes came in 50-over cricket as he notched up impressive 351 sixes in 398 ODI games. Him being at the top of the pile is even more remarkable considering most of his career he played lower down the order in all formats. What is even more impressive about Afridi’s number is that even if we combine all three format statistics his strike rate still fall around 114 and nobody in the list below come close to that. Although he was never a reliable batsman but boy when it comes to big hits there is no match for him.
Why Chris Gayle is the greatest hitter in short history of T20 cricket ?
His record haul of 637 sixes in around 242 domestic T20 matches (including IPL, Big Bash, Carribean, South Africa, T20, PSL, English T20, Bangladesh T20, Sri Lanka League) makes him the greatest hitter in short history of T20 cricket. He is the only batsman in the world who can claim to have scored more than 1000 sixes in international and domestic cricket combined.
There is no denying in the batting abilities of Chris Gayle and he is only 42 sixes behind the leader Afridi with his total haul of 434 sixes in around 491 matches. Just like afridi most of his sixes came in ODI cricket (238 sixes in 269 matches). Unlike afridi he has played over 100 test matches and hit 98 sixes while another 98 in 48 T20 matches makes him the highest six hitter in twenty20 cricket.
But Chris Gayle comes a six hitting machine if we include statistics from twenty20 domestic leagues. Currently nobody, yes not even Shahid Afridi comes close to what Gayle has achieved in short history of t20 domestic leagues around the world.
Lets take a look at 10 other biggest hitters in world cricket which include some greats of the game. With so much T20 cricket being played it won’t be long when history books are revised with new names.
| NO# | PLAYER | TOTAL | ODIS | T20 | TEST |
| 1 |  Shahid Afridi |
476 (523 matches) | 351 | 73 | 52 |
| 2 |  Chris Gayle |
434 (420 matches) | 238 | 98 | 98 |
| 3 |  Brendon Mccullum |
398 (474 matches) | 200 | 91 | 107 |
| 4 |  Sanath Jayasuriya |
352 (586 matches) | 270 | 23 | 59 |
| 5 |  MS Dhoni |
302 (432 matches) | 192 | 32 | 78 |
| 7 |  AB de Villiers |
287 (376 matches) | 184 | 48 | 57 |
| 8 | Sachin Tendulkar |
264 (664 matches) | 195 | 0 | 69 |
| 9 |  Adam Gilchrist |
262 (396 matches) | 149 | 13 | 100 |
| 10 | Jacques Kallis |
254 (519 matches) | 137 | 20 | 97 |
| 11 | Sourav Ganguly |
247 (424 matches) | 190 | 0 | 57 |
| 12 | Rickey Ponting |
246 (560 matches) | 162 | 11 | 73 |
| 13 | Shane Watson |
245 (307 matches) | 131 | 83 | 31 |
| 14 | Virender Sehwag |
243 (374 matches) | 136 | 16 | 91 |
| 15 | Yuvraj Singh |
241 (388) | 148 | 71 | 22 |
| 16 | Chris Cains |
240 (279) | 153 | 0 | 87 |
| 17 | Brian Lara |
221+ (430) | 134 | 0 | 88 |
| 18 | Martin Guptill |
212 (229) | 116 | 76 | 20 |
| 19 | Sir Viv Richards |
210 (308) | 124 | 0 | 84 |
| 20 | Ross Taylor |
204 (212) | 119 | 48 | 37 |
*Statistics as of 30 March 2016. There are number of players currently active and we might update the post a few months later with new numbers.