IPL 2019: Who will hit the most fours this time?

Some pundits will tell you that fours are as important as, if not more important than, sixes – even in twenty-over cricket, IPL or otherwise. They are easier to hit, and are the safer option, for one does not have to hit them in the air.

This means means that there are invariably more of them than sixes. Even Chris Gayle, with his monstrous tally of 292 sixes in the tournament, has 324 fours to match them.

However, despite his lead of 105 over anyone else when it comes to sixes, Gayle is well down the list of four-hitters. That list is headed by Gautam Gambhir, whose 491 fours are well ahead of Shikhar Dhawan‘s 460. Dhawan, thus, has the most sixes among those featuring in this edition, 12 ahead of Suresh Raina‘s tally of 448.

Players	4s	I	BF	4s/I	BF/4	6s	4:6 ratio
Gautam Gambhir	491	152	3,404	3.23	7	59	8.3
Shikhar Dhawan	460	142	3,285	3.24	7	85	5.4
Suresh Raina	448	172	3,600	2.60	8	185	2.4
Virat Kohli	434	155	3,784	2.80	9	178	2.4
Robin Uthappa	401	158	3,099	2.54	8	145	2.8
David Warner	401	114	2,824	3.52	7	160	2.5
Rohit Sharma	379	168	3,429	2.26	9	184	2.1
Ajinkya Rahane	359	119	2,848	3.02	8	65	5.5
Dinesh Karthik	335	150	2,642	2.23	8	87	3.9
Virender Sehwag	334	104	1,755	3.21	5	106	3.2
AB de Villiers	326	129	2,619	2.53	8	186	1.8
Chris Gayle	324	111	2,650	2.92	8	292	1.1
Parthiv Patel	317	123	2,090	2.58	7	39	8.1
Shane Watson	301	113	2,250	2.66	7	157	1.9

Only four men have hit more than 3 fours in an innings on an average. And only three of them – David Warner (the only one to have topped the 3.5-mark), Shikhar Dhawan and, somewhat surprisingly, Ajinkya Rahane – will feature in IPL 2019.

With 2.92 fours an innings, Gayle stands sixth on the list. This, combined with his incredible number of sixes, is reason why he stands head and shoulders above anyone in the history of the tournament.

But what of recent batsmen? Let us check the numbers for 2018.

Players	2019 team	4s	I	BF	4s/I	BF/4	6s	4:6
Rishabh Pant	Delhi	68	14	394	4.86	6	37	1.8
KL Rahul	Punjab	66	14	416	4.71	6	32	2.1
Kane Williamson	Hyderabad	64	17	516	3.76	8	28	2.3
Suryakumar Yadav	Mumbai	61	14	384	4.36	6	16	3.8
Shikhar Dhawan	Delhi	59	16	363	3.69	6	14	4.2
Chris Lynn	Kolkata	56	16	377	3.50	7	18	3.1
Ambati Rayudu	Chennai	53	16	402	3.31	8	34	1.6
Jos Buttler	Rajasthan	52	13	353	4.00	7	21	2.5
Virat Kohli	Bangalore	52	14	381	3.71	7	18	2.9
Dinesh Karthik	Kolkata	49	16	337	3.06	7	16	3.1
Suresh Raina	Chennai	46	15	336	3.07	7	12	3.8
Shane Watson	Chennai	44	15	359	2.93	8	35	1.3
Sunil Narine	Kolkata	40	16	188	2.50	5	23	1.7

Pant’s numbers are phenomenal. He hit most fours last year in addition to most sixes, which puts him on a league different from others.

Pant’s 4.86 fours an innings are matched by only Rahul’s 4.71. Yadav (4.36) – somewhat surprisingly – occupies third spot, while Buttler has hit exactly 4 an innings.

When it comes to balls per six, however, no one matches Narine’s tally of 5 an innings. One must remember that Narine also hit 23 sixes in 2018. Combine this with Lynn (56 fours, 18 sixes), and you will know where KKR’s strength lies.