IPL Most Sixes: All-Time Records

Chris Gayle hit 357 sixes in the Indian Premier League and did it in 141 innings. Rohit Sharma, second on the list with 324, has needed 275. That single comparison is the reason a six-hitting record cannot be read as a ranking: Gayle cleared the rope once every 9.3 balls he faced for twelve seasons, a rate no batter with a comparable volume has come close to, and he still stopped 33 short of 400 because he simply did not play enough matches.

The competition's relationship with the shot has changed more than any other measurable thing about it. In 2013 an IPL six arrived once every 26.1 legal deliveries bowled. In 2026 it arrived once every 11.7. That is not a batting revolution so much as an accumulation of small changes — flatter pitches, two new balls in the powerplay in some seasons, the impact substitute, shorter boundaries at newer venues, and squads picked specifically for the shot.

Every number below is counted from ball-by-ball records of all 1,243 Indian Premier League matches between April 2008 and the 2026 final. All-run sixes, which the source data flags separately, are excluded.

Career six-hitters

#	Player	Mat	Inns	Sixes	Balls faced	Balls per six	Runs	SR	Span
1	Chris Gayle	141	141	357	3,333	9.3	4,965	148.96	2009-2021
2	Rohit Sharma	281	275	324	5,514	17.0	7,329	132.92	2008-2026
3	Virat Kohli	282	275	317	6,926	21.8	9,336	134.80	2008-2026
4	MS Dhoni	277	241	264	3,957	15.0	5,439	137.45	2008-2025
5	AB de Villiers	183	170	251	3,403	13.6	5,162	151.69	2008-2021
6	Sanju Samson	190	185	243	3,671	15.1	5,181	141.13	2013-2026
7	KL Rahul	160	149	239	4,179	17.5	5,815	139.15	2013-2026
8	David Warner	184	184	236	4,697	19.9	6,565	139.77	2009-2024
9	Kieron Pollard	189	168	223	2,316	10.4	3,412	147.32	2010-2022
9	Andre Russell	139	114	223	1,522	6.8	2,651	174.18	2012-2025
11	Jos Buttler	138	136	211	3,103	14.7	4,646	149.73	2016-2026
12	Suresh Raina	204	200	203	4,043	19.9	5,528	136.73	2008-2021
13	Shane Watson	145	141	190	2,809	14.8	3,874	137.91	2008-2020
14	Nicholas Pooran	104	100	186	1,540	8.3	2,527	164.09	2019-2026
15	Robin Uthappa	205	197	182	3,799	20.9	4,952	130.35	2008-2022
15	Shreyas Iyer	147	144	182	3,093	17.0	4,229	136.73	2015-2026
17	Rishabh Pant	139	136	181	2,633	14.5	3,865	146.79	2016-2026
18	Suryakumar Yadav	179	164	178	3,083	17.3	4,581	148.59	2012-2026
19	Faf du Plessis	154	147	174	3,515	20.2	4,773	135.79	2012-2025
20	Ambati Rayudu	204	185	173	3,409	19.7	4,348	127.54	2010-2023
21	Ishan Kishan	134	127	166	2,508	15.1	3,600	143.54	2016-2026
22	Dinesh Karthik	257	233	161	3,577	22.2	4,842	135.36	2008-2024
22	Glenn Maxwell	141	134	161	1,817	11.3	2,819	155.15	2012-2025
24	Yusuf Pathan	174	153	159	2,241	14.1	3,204	142.97	2008-2019
25	Hardik Pandya	162	150	156	2,020	12.9	2,955	146.29	2015-2026

Kohli and Karthik are in the top twenty-two on aggregate and last by rate: one six every 21.8 and 22.2 balls. They got there by batting for eighteen and seventeen seasons respectively.

Rate, with a hundred-six qualification

#	Player	Sixes	Balls	Balls per six	Inns	SR
1	Andre Russell	223	1,522	6.8	114	174.18
2	Nicholas Pooran	186	1,540	8.3	100	164.09
3	Sunil Narine	120	1,101	9.2	122	165.30
4	Chris Gayle	357	3,333	9.3	141	148.96
5	Abhishek Sharma	144	1,389	9.6	89	171.27
6	Kieron Pollard	223	2,316	10.4	168	147.32
7	Heinrich Klaasen	120	1,262	10.5	60	166.72
8	Shivam Dube	137	1,464	10.7	87	145.42
9	Mitchell Marsh	111	1,249	11.3	62	148.52
9	Glenn Maxwell	161	1,817	11.3	134	155.15
11	Riyan Parag	108	1,300	12.0	86	144.23
12	Hardik Pandya	156	2,020	12.9	150	146.29
13	Marcus Stoinis	117	1,520	13.0	108	147.50
14	AB de Villiers	251	3,403	13.6	170	151.69
15	Yusuf Pathan	159	2,241	14.1	153	142.97

Andre Russell's 6.8 is the extreme of the entire record: a six every seven balls across 114 innings, at a career strike rate of 174. He is the only player to have hit more than 200 sixes in fewer than 1,600 deliveries. The hundred-six bar is our own, and it is set there because the rate table becomes meaningless below it — several players who batted twenty innings sit above Russell on balls per six and none of them will hold the position.

Chris Gayle is the only name inside the top five of both tables. Everyone else who hits at his rate has done so in a specialist's role of fifty or eighty balls a season; Gayle did it while opening.

Most sixes in one innings

Sixes	Player	Score	Balls	Team	Opponent	Venue	Date
17	Chris Gayle	175*	66	Royal Challengers Bangalore	Pune Warriors	Bangalore	23 Apr 2013
13	Brendon McCullum	158*	73	Kolkata Knight Riders	Royal Challengers Bangalore	Bangalore	18 Apr 2008
13	Chris Gayle	128*	62	Royal Challengers Bangalore	Delhi Daredevils	Delhi	17 May 2012
12	Vaibhav Suryavanshi	103	37	Rajasthan Royals	Sunrisers Hyderabad	Jaipur	25 Apr 2026
12	Vaibhav Suryavanshi	97	29	Rajasthan Royals	Sunrisers Hyderabad	New Chandigarh	27 May 2026
12	Chris Gayle	117	57	Royal Challengers Bangalore	Kings XI Punjab	Bangalore	6 May 2015
12	AB de Villiers	129*	52	Royal Challengers Bangalore	Gujarat Lions	Bangalore	14 May 2016
11	Andre Russell	88*	36	Kolkata Knight Riders	Chennai Super Kings	Chennai	10 Apr 2018
11	Chris Gayle	104*	63	Kings XI Punjab	Sunrisers Hyderabad	Chandigarh	19 Apr 2018
11	Vaibhav Suryavanshi	101	38	Rajasthan Royals	Gujarat Titans	Jaipur	28 Apr 2025
11	Sanath Jayasuriya	114*	48	Mumbai Indians	Chennai Super Kings	Mumbai	14 May 2008
11	Murali Vijay	127	56	Chennai Super Kings	Rajasthan Royals	Chennai	3 Apr 2010

Four of the twelve entries belong to Gayle, three to Suryavanshi. Suryavanshi's twelve at New Chandigarh in May 2026 came off twenty-nine deliveries, which is the fewest balls anyone has needed for a double-figure six count in the competition — twelve of his twenty-nine balls went for six.

The Chinnaswamy Stadium appears four times, more than any other ground: three from a Royal Challengers batter and one from Brendon McCullum hitting against them in the tournament's opening match. Two things about the venue explain it: short square boundaries and, at 900 metres above sea level, the thinnest air on the circuit.

The season records

Season	Player	Team	Inns	Sixes	Runs	Balls	SR
2026	Vaibhav Suryavanshi	Rajasthan Royals	16	72	776	327	237.31
2012	Chris Gayle	Royal Challengers Bangalore	14	59	733	456	160.75
2019	Andre Russell	Kolkata Knight Riders	13	52	510	249	204.82
2013	Chris Gayle	Royal Challengers Bangalore	16	51	708	453	156.29
2022	Jos Buttler	Rajasthan Royals	17	45	863	579	149.05
2011	Chris Gayle	Royal Challengers Bangalore	12	44	608	332	183.13
2026	Abhishek Sharma	Sunrisers Hyderabad	15	43	563	275	204.73
2026	Rajat Patidar	Royal Challengers Bengaluru	14	42	501	260	192.69
2024	Abhishek Sharma	Sunrisers Hyderabad	16	42	484	237	204.22
2025	Nicholas Pooran	Lucknow Super Giants	14	40	524	267	196.25
2025	Shreyas Iyer	Punjab Kings	17	39	604	345	175.07

Suryavanshi's 72 is thirteen clear of Gayle's 59, and the manner of it is more remarkable than the number. He faced 327 balls in the season and hit 72 of them for six — better than one in five. Gayle's 59 came from 456 deliveries. Leaving Suryavanshi aside, nobody has reached fifty in a season since Russell's 52 in 2019.

Gayle holds three of the top six season figures, all for Royal Challengers between 2011 and 2013, and none of them from a season in which he played more than sixteen innings.

The competition's balls-per-six figure, season by season

Season	Innings	Sixes	Fours	Balls per six
2008	116	623	1,703	20.8
2009	114	506	1,317	25.9
2013	152	675	2,052	26.1
2017	118	705	1,611	19.0
2018	120	872	1,652	15.8
2021	120	687	1,549	20.2
2022	148	1,062	2,020	16.1
2023	147	1,124	2,175	15.2
2024	142	1,261	2,175	12.9
2025	146	1,301	2,260	12.7
2026	147	1,426	2,333	11.7

The trend is not smooth. Six-hitting fell in 2009, when the tournament moved to South Africa on slower, larger grounds, and again in 2013, its lowest-scoring season. It jumped in 2018 and jumped again from 2022. The last three seasons are the three highest, and 2026 produced 1,426 sixes — more than 2008 and 2009 produced between them.

Fours have grown far less. Between 2013 and 2026 sixes rose from 675 to 1,426, a rise of 111 per cent, while fours went from 2,052 to 2,333, a rise of 14 per cent. Twenty20 batting has not become more aggressive in general; it has become more specifically committed to clearing the rope.

Four things the six list tells you

Aggregate rewards openers, rate rewards finishers. The top eight by aggregate are all top-order batters. The top eight by rate are, with the exception of Gayle and Abhishek Sharma, players who batted at five or lower.

Indian six-hitting is a recent development at the top. Of the fifteen players on the rate table, five are India-qualified — Abhishek Sharma, Shivam Dube, Riyan Parag, Hardik Pandya and Yusuf Pathan — and only Pathan's career belongs entirely to the competition's first decade.

One ground and one club own the innings record. Four of the twelve biggest six-hitting innings were played at Bangalore, and four by a Royal Challengers batter. The club has never had the competition's best bowling attack; the venue has produced its most extreme batting.

The record itself is now moving every year. Between 2013 and 2025 the single-season six record stood at 59. It went to 72 in one season. The 400-six career mark, which looked unreachable when Gayle stopped in 2021, is now within range of any batter who plays 150 innings at a modern rate. The corresponding boundary-four record is on the IPL most fours page, the career run aggregates on the IPL most runs page, and the innings totals that all this hitting produced are on the IPL highest team totals page. Franchise-level context for Mumbai Indians, whose finishers dominate the rate table, sits with the club.

For how the Twenty20 game reshaped Indian cricket more broadly, see the cricket in India hub.

Sources and method

Six counts on this page come from the Cricsheet ball-by-ball archive (cricsheet.org, ODC-BY 1.0), which records every delivery of all 1,243 IPL matches from 18 April 2008 to 31 May 2026. A six is a delivery from which six runs were scored off the bat and the ball reached the boundary; the small number of all-run sixes flagged in the source are excluded, which is the same definition published scorecards use.

Balls faced exclude wides and include no-balls. Deliveries in super overs are excluded from career and season figures, because super-over runs do not count towards batting records. Balls per six is balls faced divided by sixes hit — a batter's own figure, not a team figure.

The tournament-level balls-per-six column is different in kind: it is total legal deliveries bowled in a season divided by total sixes hit in that season, so it measures how often a six appeared in the competition rather than how often any individual hit one. Legal deliveries exclude wides and no-balls there, because the question is how many balls of cricket produced a six.

The hundred-six qualification on the rate table is our own choice and is printed above the table rather than buried here. Season labels are the calendar year of the tournament. Every figure is current to the end of the 2026 season and will change with the next one.