Cricket, especially the limited-overs format, is considered the most unforgiving for the bowlers as the game is largely tilted in the batsmen’s favour. The present scenario gives batters ample opportunity to dominate the bowlers and one of the many reasons is the fielding restrictions in place, apart from the nature of bats being used.
Fielding restrictions in T20s are commonly dubbed powerplay, where a fielding team can have only 2 fielders near the boundaries. This presents the batter with all the freedom in the world to help the ball sail over the ropes, and we will see how often a batter has done that in IPL cricket.
Here are the top 10 batters with the most sixes in powerplay overs in the IPL.
Most Sixes in Powerplay Overs in IPL
| Player | Innings | Sixes in Powerplay Overs |
|---|---|---|
| Chris Gayle | 135 | 138 |
| David Warner | 175 | 105 |
| Rohit Sharma | 168 | 94 |
| KL Rahul | 109 | 77 |
| Faf du Plessis | 122 | 76 |
| Quinton de Kock | 107 | 75 |
| Shikhar Dhawan | 213 | 74 |
| Brendon McCullum | 104 | 70 |
| Jos Buttler | 87 | 63 |
| Virat Kohli | 193 | 63 |
Key Insights
Only 2 batters, Chris Gayle and David Warner, have struck 100 or more sixes in the powerplay overs of the IPL. The former leads the pack with the most maximums (138) in the powerplay phase in 135 innings, scoring 2336 runs.
Shikhar Dhawan has amassed the most runs in powerplay (3390 and counting) and has hit 74+ sixes, with Warner coming in second position having scored 3300+ runs, comprising 105+ maximums.
Must Read | The Importance of Powerplay Overs in IPL
There have been 8 different batters who have scored 2000 or more IPL runs just in the powerplay overs, and the strike rate of David Warner (138.39) is the best among them. Virender Sehwag (1568) has the best strike rate (143.85) for a batter with at least 1500 or more IPL runs in the powerplays.
Overall, 13 batters have hit at least 50 maximums in the IPL just in the powerplays. Shane Watson (54), Sunil Narine, and Robin Uthappa (50) are the 3 other players to have hit 50 or more sixes in the first 6 overs of an IPL innings.
