Most sixes in international cricket: the all-time list

Rohit Sharma has hit more sixes in international cricket than anyone who has played the game, and the margin is not close. He passed Chris Gayle’s mark and kept going, and he holds the ODI record on top of the overall one. Here is the all-time list, how the record moved between three very different players, and the distinction that trips most of these lists up.

Most sixes in international cricket: the all-time top 10

Combined Test, ODI and T20 international sixes. Seven of these ten careers are finished, so those figures are final.

#	Player	Country	Sixes	Career
1	Rohit Sharma	India	674 and counting	2007-present
2	Chris Gayle	West Indies	553	1999-2021
3	Shahid Afridi	Pakistan	476	1996-2018
4	Jos Buttler	England	418 and counting	2011-present
5	Brendon McCullum	New Zealand	398	2002-2016
6	Martin Guptill	New Zealand	383	2009-2022
7	MS Dhoni	India	359	2004-2019
8	Sanath Jayasuriya	Sri Lanka	352	1989-2011
9	Eoin Morgan	England	346	2006-2022
10	Virat Kohli	India	335 and counting	2008-present

Rohit’s total is 674 after India’s third ODI against West Indies on 3 October 2026 and still moves, because he continues to play ODIs after retiring from T20 internationals in 2024 and from Tests in 2025. Buttler and Virat Kohli are also still playing, and Buttler’s 418 (33 in Tests, 193 in ODIs, 192 in T20Is) puts him fourth. Every other figure here is a closed career.

Rohit Sharma’s record, format by format

What makes his total unusual is that it is not carried by one format. It splits almost evenly between the two white-ball games, and he held the record in both until Austria’s Karanbir Singh passed his T20I total in June 2026.

Format	Rohit’s sixes	Standing
ODIs	381	World record, passed Shahid Afridi’s 351 in November 2025 and still climbing
T20Is	205	Second behind Karanbir Singh’s 214, and final: he retired from the format in 2024
Tests	88	Final: he retired from Test cricket in 2025

The ODI record was the one that took longest. Afridi had held it since 2010, finishing on 351, and Rohit passed him with three sixes against South Africa at Ranchi on 30 November 2025. Two of his three format columns are now closed, so the only one that can still grow is the fifty-over one.

How the record changed hands

Three players have held this record in the modern era and each one held it for a different reason, which is what makes the list worth more than its top line.

Shahid Afridi got there on rate. He hit 476 in 524 matches while batting at a strike rate no one else of his era attempted, and he did it largely before T20 cricket existed to reward it. Chris Gayle got there on scale, 553 across twenty years and three formats, and he remains the only man on this list whose franchise numbers dwarf his international ones. Rohit Sharma got there on both, and on longevity: an opener in the two formats that hand out the most deliveries, playing for a side that plays more white-ball cricket than anyone.

The dates in the right-hand column of the main table tell their own story. Jayasuriya, who debuted in 1989, is the only player in the top ten who did most of his hitting before 2005. Everyone else belongs to the era after T20 arrived, which is the real explanation for why this list looks nothing like the one from twenty years ago.

Who leads each format

Format	Leader	Sixes
Tests	Ben Stokes (England)	138, ahead of Brendon McCullum’s 107
ODIs	Rohit Sharma (India)	381, ahead of Afridi’s 351 and Gayle’s 331
T20Is	Karanbir Singh (Austria)	214, ahead of Rohit Sharma’s 205

Each of those has its own full list: most sixes in Test cricket, most sixes in ODI cricket and most sixes in T20 internationals.

International sixes are not the same as T20 sixes

This is where most lists on this subject go wrong, and it is worth stating plainly. The numbers above count international cricket only: Tests, ODIs and T20Is played between countries. They do not include the IPL, the Big Bash, the Hundred, the CPL or any other franchise league.

Counted across all T20 cricket, the order changes completely. Chris Gayle has cleared a thousand T20 sixes. Kieron Pollard, Andre Russell and Nicholas Pooran follow him past 600, and Jos Buttler joined that club in April 2026 as the first non-West Indian in it. Pollard and Russell barely register on the international list at all, because most of their careers were spent in leagues rather than in national colours.

So a headline saying a batter has “600 sixes” can mean two entirely different achievements. Check which competition set is being counted before comparing two players.

Most sixes in international cricket: quick answers

Who has hit the most sixes in international cricket?
Rohit Sharma, on 674 as of 3 October 2026 and still adding to it in ODIs. Chris Gayle is second on 553 and Shahid Afridi third on 476.

Does Rohit Sharma hold the six record in every format?
In one of three. He leads the ODI list on 381. On the T20I list he is second on 205, behind Karanbir Singh’s 214, and the Test record belongs to Ben Stokes on 138.

Who held the record before Rohit?
Chris Gayle, and Shahid Afridi before him. Afridi’s mark of 351 ODI sixes also stood from 2015 until Rohit passed it in November 2025.

How many sixes has Chris Gayle hit in all cricket?
More than a thousand in T20 cricket alone, which is a different and much larger list than the international one. His international total is 553.

Which Indian batters are in the top ten?
Three: Rohit Sharma at number one, MS Dhoni seventh on 359 and Virat Kohli tenth on 335.

Is anyone likely to catch Rohit?
Not soon. The nearest active player on this list is Jos Buttler, 256 sixes behind, and international cricket now gives fewer matches per year to the format that produced most of Rohit’s total.

For more of the same, see our all-time ODI run list and the wider set of ODI cricket records.

Featured image: AFP / Randy Brooks