Finn Allen joins a top 5 list monopolised by Chris Gayle with enormous knock for San Francisco Unicorns in MLC, USA
Lance Klusener shocked Ricky Ponting in 1999. The Australian skipper had never seen anyone practice six-hitting the way Klusener did.
The South African all-rounder was one of the first batters to incorporate power-hitting into his training regime.
Many things have changed since 1999. T20 cricket was born, and six-hitting became even more important. A six is the equivalent of a three in basketball.
The more you score, the higher your chances of winning the match. Batters learned this fact over the past ten years and have been trying to hit maximums much more consistently.
Below, we present the top five players who have taken bowling attacks apart and smashed the most sixes in a T20 innings, most recently in Major League Cricket in the USA.
5. Punit Bisht – 17 sixes in a T20 innings, 2021
Meghalaya’s innings was in a tricky position in the powerplay. They went out to bat first and were two wickets down for 28 runs after 5.1 overs. Then Punit Bisht arrived at the crease.
The 38-year-old is described as a steady wicket-keeper in his Cricinfo profile; however, on this day, there was nothing steady about his innings.
Bisht bludgeoned his way to an unbeaten 146 off 51 balls. One hundred and twenty-six or 86% of those runs came off boundaries.
The Meghalaya captain smashed 17 sixes in his knock as he guided his side to 230/6. Mizoram’s batters were so shell-shocked by what they had witnessed that they crumbled for 100/9 in their reply.
4. Chris Gayle – 17 sixes in a T20 innings, 2013
Twenty-thirteen was Chris Gayle’s breakout year. The West Indies star needed three deliveries to get his eye in.
The first two were dot balls, and he took a single off the third. Then Gayle went ballistic. He smashed five fours off the next seven balls he faced. Only rain could stop him, but the Gayle Force was so strong that all the Bengaluru sky could manage was a passing shower.
Gayle tonked 17 sixes and 13 fours as he shot Royal Challengers Bengaluru to a monumental 263/5. He finished his innings unbeaten on 175 off 66 deliveries. Pune Warriors did not manage a third of Gayle’s sixes in their reply, and they slumped to 133/9.
3. Sahil Chauhan – 18 sixes in a T20 innings, 2024
The weather looked fine, and the conditions seemed amenable for batting, so Cyprus elected to bat first after winning the toss.
Taranjit Singh flayed Estonia’s bowling attack on his way to a good 44 off 17 balls, and everyone else who walked out to bat contributed in double figures as they sped to 191/7.
Cyprus could have been forgiven for feeling confident of victory, especially after Estonia lost two wickets for nine runs in the first two overs.
Then Sahil Cahuhan stepped up. He did his best Bannerman impression as he creamed 18 sixes and six fours on his way to an incredible unbeaten 41-ball 144.
2. Chris Gayle – 18 sixes in a T20 innings, 2017
Mashrafe Mortaza, the Rangpur Riders captain, promised fans that his side was going to play hard.
It is a warning his opposite number, Shakib Al Hasan, the Dhaka Dynamites captain, should have heeded. Instead, Shakib won the toss and asked the Riders to bat first. It was a mistake.
The Dynamites snared an early wicket, dismissing Johnson Charles for three in the second over. That was the last wicket they took that entire match. Chris Gayle joined forces with Brendon McCullum for an unbroken 201-run second-wicket partnership.
McCullum struck a pedestrian 51 off 43, while Gayle plundered 146 runs from 69 balls. His innings featured 18 sixes and five fours.
1. Finn Allen – 19 sixes in a T20 innings, 2025
If the organisers of the 2025 edition of MLC cricket didn’t have a fireworks budget for the opening ceremony, they shouldn’t have worried. Finn Allen had them covered.
He lit up the Oakland night sky with the most sixes in a T20 innings, breaking the eight-year record set by Chris Gayle in 2017.
Allen needed only three deliveries to get going. The New Zealand star solidly defended the first two balls from Sears before he decided that he couldn’t let the pacer tie him down. Allen shuffled across the stumps and scooped the ball over fine leg for six.
It was the first maximum of the MLC season, and it was the first of the 19 sixes he launched.
Glenn Maxwell, who won the toss and elected to field first, rued the decision as he watched Finn Allen springboard the San Francisco Unicorns to 269/5. Maxwell’s side, Washington Freedom, responded with a feeble 146 in 13.1 overs.