Top 10 players with most fours in ODI career

Top 10 players with most fours in ODI career

Most fours in ODI career record is held by some of the classic batsmen in the world. In cricket hitting a six requires less effort than evading a ball from the middle of the fielders. While hitting a six batsmen only need to put in maximum force so that the ball might cross the boundary rope via aerial route. However same is not the case with fours. To get a four added to the shot-list one needs to choose both the shot and the gap carefully. With some of the best fielders strolling all around the ground, getting a four hit is not an easy task. Furthermore, a brutal raw force is not needed for a four to execute perfectly rather it all depends on the timing of the shot.

Most sixes in career record in ODIs is held by Shahid Afridi. The Pakistani all-rounder has a good reputation of a hard hitter of the game. However most fours in ODI career is not in his name. The reason is pretty obvious. Batsmen who rely on the timing of the ball get to score more boundaries rather the ones hitting the ball with force.  Sachin Tendulkar, the former Indian opener holds the record of most fours in ODI career. The legendary batsman holds the record of highest career runs as well. With over 18000 ODI runs including 49 hundreds, Sachin Tendulkar has hit 2016 fours. Whereas the number of sixes hit by him are nothing as compared to the fours. Sachin’s ODI sixes are 195 in total, a number that shows his preferred style of batting.

After Sachin Tendulkar, Sanath Jayasuriya stands with 1500 ODI fours in his career. The former Sri Lankan opening batsman is one of the few players to have hit both sixes and fours in abundance. However he is still way behind Sachin’s record of most fours in ODIs. The list is followed by many other classical players like Ricky Ponting, Adam Gilchrist and Kumar Sangakkara. TM Dilshan and Chris Gayle however are the only active batsmen in the top 15 of the list. Top 10 players with most fours in ODI career list is as under.

Top 10 players with most fours in ODI career

Player	Span	Matches	Runs	Fours	Sixes
SR Tendulkar (India)	1989-2012	463	18426	2016	195
ST Jayasuriya (Asia/SL)	1989-2011	445	13430	1500	270
KC Sangakkara (Asia/ICC/SL)	2000-2015	404	14234	1385	88
RT Ponting (Aus/ICC)	1995-2012	375	13704	1231	162
AC Gilchrist (Aus/ICC)	1996-2008	287	9619	1162	149
V Sehwag (Asia/ICC/India)	1999-2013	251	8273	1132	136
SC Ganguly (Asia/India)	1992-2007	311	11363	1122	190
DPMD Jayawardene (Asia/SL)	1998-2015	448	12650	1119	76
TM Dilshan (SL)	1999-2016	327	10216	1102	55
CH Gayle (ICC/WI)	1999-2015	269	9221	1038	238