Six-Hitting Records: Most Sixes in an Innings, a Series and a Career
The records for six-hitting in cricket — most sixes in a single innings (Test and T20), most sixes in an international series, and career six-hitting totals — who holds them, when they were set, and whether modern T20 batsmanship has made old records look conservative.
Single Innings Records
The record for most sixes in a single Test innings is 13 — shared by multiple batsmen including Wasim Akram (in various accounts) and Brendon McCullum's 302* for New Zealand against India in 2014, which contained 32 fours and 11 sixes. In T20 International cricket, Rohit Sharma's 118 off 43 balls against Sri Lanka in 2017 contained 12 sixes. In T20 franchise cricket, Chris Gayle's 175* for RCB in the 2013 IPL contained 17 sixes — the most in any T20 innings.
Career Records
Chris Gayle leads career T20 six-hitting records with over 1,000 sixes across all T20 cricket globally — a cumulative total that reflects his 18-year franchise T20 career. In Tests, Brendon McCullum's career record of 107 sixes in Test cricket is among the highest for a specialist batsman. Shahid Afridi, Chris Gayle, and Adam Gilchrist dominated ODI career six-hitting records in the pre-T20 era.
How Modern T20 Has Changed the Records
Six-hitting records set before 2015 are increasingly fragile. Bigger bats (within ICC regulations), flat batting surfaces, T20-specific coaching, and improved understanding of six-hitting mechanics have produced 18–20 sixes in some franchise T20 innings. The progression of records in this area is steeper than in any other cricket statistic — what was exceptional in 2010 is above-average in 2025.
Frequently asked questions
Which ground produces the most sixes in T20 cricket?
Grounds with short boundaries — particularly square boundaries — produce more sixes. The Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, and Dubai's International Cricket Stadium have historically produced higher-than-average six counts due to boundary dimensions and batting surfaces.
Has any batsman ever hit six consecutive sixes in an international match?
Yes. Herschelle Gibbs hit six sixes in one over off Daan van Bunge for South Africa against the Netherlands at the 2007 World Cup. Yuvraj Singh hit six sixes in one over off Stuart Broad in the 2007 T20 World Cup. These are the two confirmed instances in international cricket — the feat has also been achieved in domestic cricket.