T20 cricket, particularly the games in the IPL, depend a lot on a team’s ability to hit sixes. You would hardly find that a team has won an IPL game despite not hitting as many sixes as the opposition.
Almost all the teams in the IPL have got 4 or 5 players who can clear the ground with ease, but there are some players who do that frequently within a game and do it on a regular basis as well within a tournament.
Here are the 5 players who have hit 5 or more than 5 sixes in an IPL game most number of times –
#1 Chris Gayle (27 times)
Chris Gayle topping this list is fitting and obvious as the West Indies southpaw is arguably the greatest T20 batsman of all time. While Gayle has played for three IPL franchises so far including KKR, RCB and Kings XI Punjab, it was at RCB that he enjoyed his batting the most and played many game changing knocks.
Chris Gayle has hit 5 or more sixes in as many as 27 games. Even now when he is in the twilight of his career and nobody knows if he will play another IPL season or not, Gayle hit 5 sixes in a game against RCB just a week back.
#2 AB de Villiers (17 times)
AB de Villers probably doesn’t have as much of a power game as Gayle, but he is an extremely talented player and picks the length of the ball a split second quicker than the other players which allows him to get into a perfect position to hit sixes.
De Villiers has played for a couple of IPL franchises – Delhi Daredevils (now Delhi Capitals) and RCB, but his career at Delhi was a brief one. At RCB, De Villiers has turned into an all time IPL great by delivering match winning performances season after season.
De Villiers has hit 5 or more sixes in 17 IPL games so far and the kind of form he is in, he might do it a couple of times more in the ongoing IPL season.
#3 Kieron Pollard (12 times)
Kieron Pollard generally bats at no. 6 for Mumbai Indians and he doesn’t always have enough time in his hand to hit 5 or more sixes even though he is someone who is known for batting at a very high strike rate.
However, despite batting at such a low batting position for most parts of his IPL career, it’s really remarkable that Pollard has hit 5 or more sixes in 12 IPL games so far.
#4 Shane Watson (11 times)
Shane Watson has played for 3 IPL franchises till date including Rajasthan Royals, RCB and CSK and while at RCB, he didn’t get the opportunity to bat in the top order in too many games, he has mostly batted in the top order for Rajasthan and CSK and hence, has always had enough time to rip into the bowling if he gets set.
Watson is someone who can be very aggressive against the fast bowlers in the powerplay, but then he can hit sixes against the spinners too in the middle overs. His efficiency against both types of bowling is what makes him a very dangerous six hitter.
Watson has hit 5 or more sixes in an IPL game 11 times in his career.
#5 Rohit Sharma (10 times)
Rohit Sharma is also someone who has not always batted in the top order for his team Mumbai Indians. He has been doing that for the last couple of seasons, but before that, he was mostly batting in the middle order for Mumbai. However, Rohit’s strength is that he is an extremely good player of spin and just slams the spinners out of the ground with ease even if he gets the opportunity to bat after the powerplay.
And, now that he is opening the batting for Mumbai, Rohit has opportunities to be aggressive against the fast bowlers as well in the powerplay. It has happened in as many as 10 IPL games that Rohit has hit 5 or more sixes.
