Hitting them big: Five cricketers to hit most sixes in Test cricket
Test cricket is considered the purest form of the game. Back then, timeless Tests were played and interestingly, there used to be an off day after the first few days of a Test match. As times changed, even the way Test cricket was played changed. Modern-day cricket still tests the temperament of players in the Test format but with the inception of the T20 format has led to more matches ending a result and not in the boring draws unless weather intervenes.
Six-hitting has also become a prominent skill in the format and none other than Brendon McCullum fittingly leads this list. The former New Zealand skipper who smacked a brilliant and scintillating century in the last Test of his career hit 107 sixes in his illustrious career in whites. McCullum played 101 matches for his country and scored 6453 runs at an average of 38.64 with 12 tons. His six-hitting ability more often than not helped the team in scoring quick runs in crunch times.
The next player on this list is another swashbuckling batsman Adam Gilchrist. Batting at seven for Australia, Gilly gave nightmares to the opposition bowlers amassing 5570 runs in 96 Tests and in the process he smashed 100 sixes. McCullum and Gilchrist are only two batsmen to have hit more than 100 maximums. Among the currently active cricketers, Ben Stokes has hit the most sixes and even he is at the 14th position in this list. The England all-rounder has sent the ball out of the park on 74 occasions in 122 innings.
When it comes to hitting sixes, Chris Gayle is not far away and the Universe Boss is at the third place in this aspect. He smacked as many as 98 maximums in his 103-match Test career while the South Africa all-rounder Jacques Kallis is behind him by just one six. Kallis played a mammoth 166 Tests to hit 97 maximums.
The only Indian in the top 10 and fifth in this list is Virender Sehwag who used to send shivers down the spine of the bowlers. Sehwag managed to hit 91 sixes during the 104 Test matches he played. The next Indian in terms of hitting the most sixes is MS Dhoni (78 sixes) who retired from the format in 2014.
