Six-hitting has become one of the most tracked stats in modern ODI cricket, with records getting debated and broken almost every season. This blog by Khelstake cricket analysts breaks down the full career six-hitting list, the top 10 of all time, how India's own power hitters compare against each other, and who holds the record for most sixes in a single innings.Continue reading to know more.
Okay so here's the actual answer. Rohit Sharma holds the record for the most sixes in ODI international cricket, and it's not even close. We're talking 378 sixes off 282 innings across 290 matches. He's been at this since his 2007 debut and he's still going.
He passed Shahid Afridi's old record of 351 on November 30, 2025, playing South Africa in Ranchi. No fanfare. Just Rohit being Rohit. The real shift happened around 2013 when he moved up to open the innings. New ball, fielding restrictions still on, way more room to tee off early. That's basically why he turned into the most prolific six-hitter this format has seen.
| Rank | Player | Country | ODI Sixes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rohit Sharma | India | 378 |
| 2 | Shahid Afridi | Pakistan | 351 |
| 3 | Chris Gayle | West Indies | 331 |
| 4 | Sanath Jayasuriya | Sri Lanka | 270 |
| 5 | MS Dhoni | India | 229 |
| Rank | Player | Country | ODI Sixes | Matches | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rohit Sharma | India | 378 | 290 | Still padding his record |
| 2 | Shahid Afridi | Pakistan | 351 | 398 | Held this for fifteen years |
| 3 | Chris Gayle | West Indies | 331 | 301 | One of two players past 300 |
| 4 | Sanath Jayasuriya | Sri Lanka | 270 | 445 | Changed powerplay batting in the 90s |
| 5 | MS Dhoni | India | 229 | 350 | Finished games with a six, not a single |
| 6 | Eoin Morgan | England | 220 | 248 | Owns the single-innings record |
| 7 | AB de Villiers | South Africa | 204 | 228 | Could clear the rope off anything |
| 8 | Brendon McCullum | New Zealand | 200 | 260 | Made aggressive opening the standard |
| 9 | Sachin Tendulkar | India | 195 | 463 | Got here in a less boundary-focused era |
| 10 | Jos Buttler | England | 193 | 204 | Did it in fewer matches than most |
Check the full breakdown on the Khelstake Platform. Updated as new matches drop.
Rohit isn't just the global leader. He's also comfortably the most sixes in ODI for India, not even close. His 378 sixes put him almost 150 ahead of MS Dhoni, the next Indian on the list. What's wild is how chill he looks doing it. No wild early swings. Instead, patience, a steady start, turned into a massive score.
That same patience sits behind his three ODI double-centuries, something nobody else in ODI history has matched. Dhoni finished games under pressure, Tendulkar and Ganguly built their numbers in a different era, and Kohli's still adding to his count.
| Indian Player | ODI Sixes |
|---|---|
| Rohit Sharma | 378 |
| MS Dhoni | 229 |
| Sachin Tendulkar | 195 |
| Sourav Ganguly | 190 |
| Virat Kohli | 181 |
However, the most sixes in ODI innings record does not belong to Rohit Sharma. Eoin Morgan holds that record as he managed to score 17 sixes during his 148 runs in 71 balls, played by England vs. Afghanistan, at Old Trafford, in the 2019 World Cup.
Four players tie for the second place with 16 sixes. Rohit scored those many in his innings of 209 runs against Australia in 2013. AB de Villiers managed the same number of sixes in his innings of 149 not out from 44 balls against West Indies in 2015. Chris Gayle has also scored 16 sixes, while playing against Zimbabwe in the 2015 World Cup.
ODI batting looked completely different before the 2000s. Built around quick ones and twos. Boundaries were a bonus, not a plan. Then a few rule changes shifted that. Powerplay restrictions gave early batters more room to attack.
The two-new-ball rule pushed sixes later into the innings, since the ball swung less. Bats got bigger too, sweet spots generating more power without a longer backlift. Fielding standards leveled up as well, so batters went over the top instead of risking a fielder cutting off a boundary. Better fitness added to the mix. Six counts climbed steadily. Not overnight.
Getting the most sixes in ODI by a player takes way more than raw power. Longevity matters most. Even a solid six-hitter needs fifteen-plus years and hundreds of innings just to get near this list.
Batting position matters too, since openers like Rohit and Jayasuriya simply face more balls than most middle-order guys ever will. Strike rate without being reckless matters just as much, plus clearing the rope against pace and spin on any pitch. That consistency is what separates this list from a highlight reel.
378 and counting. That's where Rohit Sharma's most sixes in ODI international cricket record sits right now, with Eoin Morgan still holding the single-innings mark at 17 and India's own list running Dhoni, Tendulkar, Ganguly, and Kohli behind him.
The sport's clearly shifted gears somewhere along the way, from cautious, risk-averse batting to players going for broke on nearly every over they get.
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