Twenty20 international cricket hosts some of the most exciting and adrenaline-filled matches in the game. With batters trying their hardest to hit sixes or get every ball to the boundary, the scores in these games are unmatched by other forms of the sport.
While there are plenty of great T20 batsmen, some have achieved incredible strike rates that make fans go wild. Below, we’ll look at the top ten batsmen who have shown remarkable skill in raising their teams’ runs and bringing them to victory almost every time they play.
Note: The list of the top five cricketers with the highest strike rates above is derived from looking at players who have achieved a total of 1,000 runs during their career or more. Those whose strike rates are higher but have achieved less than this number of accumulated runs have not been considered.
What Is a Strike Rate?
Before looking at which batsmen are leading the pack with their strike rates, let’s look at what a strike rate actually is. A strike rate is the average number of runs a batsman achieves for every 100 balls they face.
As such, the higher a batsman’s strike rate, the more accurate they are at hitting high-run balls and the greater impact they will have on their team while on the pitch.
With that definition clarified, let’s look at the top batsmen in T20 Internationals (min. 1000 Runs).
Highest Batting Strike Rate in T20Is
| Player | Team | Innings | Runs Scored | Balls Faced | SR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Faisal Khan | Saudi Arabia | 49 | 1402 | 815 | 172.02 |
| Taranjeet Singh | Romania | 32 | 1087 | 649 | 167.48 |
| Suryakumar Yadav | India | 79 | 2598 | 1555 | 167.07 |
| Phil Salt | England | 40 | 1193 | 726 | 164.32 |
| Andre Russell | West Indies | 72 | 1063 | 648 | 164.04 |
| Tim David | Singapore/Australia | 48 | 1201 | 745 | 161.20 |
| Travis Head | Australia | 37 | 1093 | 681 | 160.49 |
| Finn Allen | New Zealand | 47 | 1141 | 719 | 158.69 |
| Colin Munro | New Zealand | 62 | 1724 | 1102 | 156.44 |
| Muhammad Waseem | UAE | 69 | 2515 | 1617 | 155.53 |
Key Stats
Locally, Suryakumar Yadav plays for the Mumbai Indians in the IPL and represents the national cricket team. Achieving 2,141 runs between 2021 and 2023, Suryakumar currently holds the highest strike rate of any T20 cricketer (among top cricketing nations) at 171.55. Considering his young age, many believe he will continue making waves in the sport for India and lead the country to new heights of success.
Born in South Africa, where he established a deep love for cricket, Colin Munro moved to New Zealand at a young age. Attending Pakuranga College in Auckland, Colin played for the school’s first XI team and proved himself a strong contender in any match. After representing the country in the 2006 Under-19 Cricket World Cup, his first big international appearance was when he faced his birthplace, South Africa.
In 2016, Colin became one of the top NZ scorers, which showed in a clash against Sri Lanka, where he claimed the record of the fastest 50 of any New Zealand player in T20I cricket. Colin was selected to represent the national team in the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup and quickly showed he was skilled in more than just T20 matches. Between 2012 and 2020, he scored a total of 1,724 runs, which included 11 half-centuries. This has led to an impressive strike rate of 156.44.
Since his early days playing cricket in the backyard with his brothers at the age of ten, Ramesh Satheesan has had a self-professed insatiable love of the game. This led to playing armature cricket for several years before being noticed by the Romanian national team. Ramesh made his first international debut for the country in a T20I match in 2019 in a match against Austria. He quickly displayed his skill in the game format and helped lead the country to numerous successes over the years. After being made captain of the national squad and leading the team for 38 matches, he achieved a total of 1,197 runs between his debut and 2023.
