Throughout cricket history, there have been some batsmen who have managed to make their mark with their power hitting skills in the cricket world. Hard hitting batsmen scare any bowler and get entertain their enthusiastic fans – these batsmen are always taking risks and hitting the ball with power every single time. Over the years, the game has seen a host of power hitters bossing the game with their ability to wreak havoc with their powerful stroke-making. There have been some most dangerous batsman in the world who destroyed bowlers with their hard hitting and tear any bowling attack apart.
Here’s a list of Top 10 Most Dangerous Batsman in The World –
1. Viv Richards
Viv Richards is simply regarded as the most dangerous batsman in the world and one of the best batsman in the world, known for his reckless and aggressive style of play. Richards was a destructive batsman who could destroy any bowling attack of the opposition. Even though the West Indies team at the time included great players, Viv Richards was in a different league. Players often greeted him with pale faces as he down the dressing room steps, and spectators would stand on the edge of their seats to get a better look at the batting genius. Richards had his best year in 1976, scored 1,710 runs at an average of 90 in just 11 Tests with 6 centuries. For 30 years, this record stood for the most Test runs in a calendar year. He terrorized his opponents and then rip them to pieces.
In 1984 vs England, he set a world record by scoring 189 not out in ODI that is still regarded as the best of all time, and that innings aided him in earning the greatest batting rating according to the ICC in ODI history. In 1986, Richards also scored the fastest Test century in test cricket history against England in Antigua, off just 56 balls to achieve the milestone. In 121 tests, he scored 8,540 runs at an average of 50.23, including 24 centuries. His ODI figures 6,721 runs at an average of 47.00, with a strike rate of 90, in 187 ODIs. He scored 5129 runs in winning cause which comprises 76 % of his total career runs. He made these runs with a strike rate of 93 percent and an average of 57. He didn’t care about the format because he was only ever meant to destroy bowlers, regardless of the situation. He was a unique batsman who dared to go for big hits despite only having two low scores to his name, but he was created for this; he was born to rule.
In terms of sheer dominance or intensity, no other batsman has ever come close to match Viv Richards. He was a true champion and never even wore a helmet throughout of his career. Viv took cricketing competitively or battle in cricket sport to realms rarely ever scaled. With an unprecedented amount of scorn and conviction, Viv delivered a knockout punch that tore through the fastest bowlers like a sword shredding flesh. No one has ever been as proficient at using the hook shot as Viv richards. He averaged 86.2 in the year of 1977–1978 when playing against Australia and the rest of the world, scoring 4 test hundreds. Perhaps no overseas batsman has ever been as fantastic as Viv in Australia. In 1979–1980, he had an ODI World series average of above 85 and a test match average of 96.5. No one is closer to him in terms of his proportionate influence on cricket and the degree to which he demoralized the opposition.
2. Adam Gilchrist
Adam Gilchrist contributed significantly to Australia’s dominance in cricket over the course of his career and he had the ability to turn matches single handedly. Since he started opening, Gilchrist’s aggressive style of batting has been a major key to Australia’s one-day success. Gilchrist’s impact on cricket is unparalleled. Gilchrist’s powerful swing launched cricket into a brand-new age. With lightning-fast reflexes and a fearless attitude at the crease, he redefined the role of a most dangerous batsman in the world. He was one of the most entertaining batsman ever thanks to his counter attacking batting with consistency, playing strokes to all areas of the field with exceptional timing. Although there have been many outstanding batsmen, but none have ever struck the best bowlers in the world for fours and sixes with Gilchrist’s consistency and confidence.
His strike rate is amongst the highest in the history of both ODI and Test cricket. Gilchrist played in three World Cups, and each time the team has won the tournament. He played in 31 World Cup games and scored 1,085 runs at 36.16 average and a 98.01 strike rate. Even in the tournament final, he holds the unique record of scoring at least 50 runs in successive World Cup finals. Gilchrist scored 54 off just 36 balls against Pakistan in the 1999 world cup final. He made 57 off 48 balls in the 2003 world cup against India. In the 2007 World Cup final against Sri Lanka, he scored a phenomenal match-winning 149 runs knock off just 104 balls, which still the best individual inning in a World Cup final history.
In December, 2006 Ashes Test at Perth against England, Gilchrist scored the second-fastest test century of all time and the fastest Ashes century in 130 years off just 57 balls. Later that year, he smashed his 100th test six against Sri Lanka, becoming the first player in test cricket history to do so. In the 1999 test match against Pakistan, Gilchrist at No. 7, put on 238 with Langer in just his second Test match, scored 149 undefeated, resulting in an improbable victory. His sensational 204 not out in the 2002 test against South Africa, which included 19 fours and 8 sixes, is the second fastest double tonne ever.
3. Chris Gayle
Chris Gayle is well recognized all over the world for his explosive batting and simply regarded as one of the most dangerous batsman in the world. Gayle is the only batsman with his level of talent and fame. Throughout of his career, he has demonstrated his unmatched dominance as a dangerous batsman. He is also well popularly known as Six Machine because of his ability for hitting superb and massive sixes. He is one of the best hard hitters to ever play the game, has always kept the crowds amused with his destructive batting. Gayle played exclusively by hitting the bowlers from the very first ball of the match. He snatched the game away from the best bowlers in the world by ruthlessly smashing them. He was so strong that he hit every ball while standing still and send it out of the stadium.
Gayle scored the most ODI 10480 runs by any West Indies batsman in history in 301 matches at an average of 37.83 with 25 centuries. In 103 Test matches, Gayle scored 7215 runs at average of 42.13 with 333 highest. In the first match of 2007 T20 World Cup, Chris Gayle scored magnificent and devastating 117 runs off just 57 balls against South Africa to record the first-ever T20 International century. He set a new record by scoring a century in each of the three formats, making him the first batsman ever to do so. Against South Africa in 2005 test, he smashed all South African bowlers by scoring runs all around the park. Gayle was on an altogether unique level as he scored 317 runs to register his first-ever triple century.
Chris Gayle was the man of the tournament in the 2006 champions trophy with 474 runs in 8 matches at an average of 79.00 and a strike-rate of 92.94. Gayle had scored 3 remarkable hundreds in the tournament against Bangladesh 104 not out, 101 vs England and 133 not out vs South Africa. With all 3 match winning centuries he received man of the match awards. In 2010, Chris Gayle played a splendid and his test career best innings of 333 runs vs Sri Lanka including brilliant 34-fours and 9 fabulous sixes. He became the fourth player to score two triple centuries in Test cricket history after Don Bradman, Brian Lara and Sehwag. Gayle made history in 2012 when he became the first player to ever hit a six off the first ball of a test match against Bangladesh. He became the first player to complete the trinity of Test 300, ODI 200, and T20 100 after scoring the double-century in 2015 World cup.
4. Sanath Jayasuriya
Sanath Jayasuriya is certainly one of the greatest ODI batsman of all time and well known one of the most dangerous batsman in the world. He elevated opening batting to a new level, effectively revolutionized it in the decade of 90s. His style of up-front batting against the new ball was thrilling; it delighted crowds everywhere but more significantly took the game away from the opposition so quickly. Bowlers who were used to being in control with the new ball suddenly weren’t too sure where to bowl or what fields to set against him. It was a completely different experience for the fast bowlers. In 1996 World Cup quarterfinal against England, Jayasuriya blasted England, scored 82 off just 44 balls to lead Sri Lanka to victory with 10 overs to spare, making England’s 235 appear incredibly ordinary. Not only that, he changed the idea of opening batting in ODIs forever after this destructive innings.
Against Pakistan in the Singer Cup in 1996, Jayasuriya struck an incredible 134 off just 65 balls, smashing 11 huge sixes and 11 fours. He scored his century in just 48 balls, making it the fastest ODI cricket century in the history of ODI cricket that time. Even In the tournament’s final, against same team Pakistan, Jayasuriya scored marvellous 50 off just 17 balls, setting a world record for the fastest fifty in one-day international cricket history. In 1997 test match vs India at Colombo, Sri Lanka scored 952 for six, the highest score in Test cricket history, Jayasuriya scored a devastating 340 runs. In the fifth ODI against England, where Sri Lanka needed to win by a score of 322, he manufactured yet another outstanding performance. Jayasuriya scored 152 off just 99 balls set a new ODI record for the fastest 150 in ODIs history. In this innings, Jayasuriya and Upul Tharanga shared a record-breaking opening partnership of 286 runs, the highest first wicket partnership at the time.
Sanath Jayasuriya is the fourth batsman to score 13,430 runs in the history of ODIs with 28 centuries and 189 highest against India. In ODIs, Jayasuriya has smacked the second-most number of 270 sixes after Afridi. In 2007 test match against England by hitting 78 in his final innings. He destroyed James Anderson throughout that innings as he smashed six consecutive fours in one over. Jayasuiya holds the record and the first batsman ever to score the most runs in an over in ODIs — which was 30. And, he managed this feat twice. In 1996, Jayasuriya accomplished it for the first time against Pakistan at Singapore off Aamer Sohail’s bowling. In 2001 at Sharjah, when Chris Harris received a similar treatment, he repeated this feat.
5. Virender Sehwag
Virender Sehwag is famously known as one of the most dangerous batsman in the world that India has ever produced in both formats of the game. He changed modern test cricket, or at the very least, expectations of what was achievable from an opening batsman in test cricket were changed. In Test cricket, he changed the role of the opener and scored many runs at a faster strike rate than any other player with at least 2,000 Test runs in history. Sehwag set new benchmarks for those at the top of the order, doing for test cricket what Sanath Jayasuriya had done for ODI cricket in the 1990s era with his ultra-attacking mindset from the first ball of the match. The truly remarkable thing about Sehwag, however, was his ability to come out with all guns blazing and still manage to really big score in both formats.
Virender Sehwag has the 2nd highest ODI batting strike rate ever among all batsman – and highest among ODI openers – who have scored over 2,000 ODI runs. Sehwag’s 14 out of 23 Test centuries, or more than half, were over 150, and of those, two were triple centuries. The remaining four were double centuries. Sehwag has scored five of the six fastest double-centuries in Test cricket history. This result is all the more astonishing considering that he consistently batted at a 50-plus average throughout of his test career. All of this serves as evidence of his exceptional eye and incredible self-belief in playing remarkable shots.
Sehwag was the first and is still the only Indian batsman to score a triple century in Test cricket. In 2011 ODI, he scored 219 off 149 balls against the West Indies also surpassed Tendulkar’s record for the highest individual score in a one-day international history. In 251 ODIs, he scored 8273 runs at strike rate of 104.33 with 15 centuries and 38 fifties with a highest score of 219. In 104 tests, he scored 8,586 runs at 49.34 average and strike rate of 82.23 with 23 centuries and 319 highest vs South Africa. Sehwag is one of the revered batting champions, who played with freedom all the time and was not worried about the consequences against any team.
6. Shahid Afridi
Shahid Afridi is well popularly known as one of the most dangerous batsman in the world and simply nightmare for all bowlers in the world. He is one of the most famous cricketer in the world, known for his aggressive batting style and charismatic attitude. Afridi has struck three out of the seven fastest ODI century in history. He could change the result of a game easily and uplift the mood of a crowd with his hard hitting style. Shahid Afridi holds the record for hitting the most sixes 333 in one-day Internationals. He holds four of the top eight fastest ODI fifties record to his name as well, twice completed in 18 balls and remaining twice in 20 balls.
In 1996, Shahid Afridi inscribed his name in world record books after he scored the fastest century in one day cricket history. Afridi smashed a spectacular world record fastest hundred off just 37 balls at the age of just 16-years and 217-days with 11 massive sixes and six fours against Sri Lanka at Nairobi. Along with he broke Jayasuriya’s previous fastest century record off 48 balls. This was the first occasion when Afridi came out to bat in international cricket.
About 9 years later after that fastest century off 37 balls, he scored another tremendous world’s fastest century against India at Kanpur. Afridi smashed the second fastest ODI century off just 45 balls with 10 fours and 9 huge sixes while chasing the target of 250 runs. In 2006, Afridi hit four consecutive sixes off Harbhajan Singh’s over in a test match matching a feat that Kapil Dev achieved in 1990. In a game of Power Cricket, he also became the first batsman in history to score 12 runs off one ball, by hitting the six to roof of the Millennium Stadium. In 2007 in an ODI game at Abu Dhabi he scored 32 runs off Malinga Bandara over. He struck 2 boundaries and four consecutive sixes and it was the 2nd most expensive over in ODI history.
7. Andrew Symonds
Andrew Symonds will always be remembered as one of the powerful hitters of the cricket ball and one of the most dangerous batsman in the world that Australia has ever produced in ODI cricket. Symonds played a crucial role in the 2000s for Australian dominance. The most important aspect of his presence was that he frequently stepped up when Australia was in trouble, he stood up more often than not. He overcame the odds and got the team out of trouble. Symonds was a gifted batsman for Australia, who smashed boundaries and sixes at will. He was simply a One day specialist.
Symonds was truly established as the man for big stages in the 2003 world cup. In the 2003 World Cup match against Pakistan, Symonds entered in a dangerous position because the top-order was failed, Australian score was 86-4. However, he had different ideas, though, and hammered 143 not out with 18 fours and two sixes against one the best bowling bowling attacks of all time as settled his team for 310/8 to help Australia win the game by 82 runs. Even his 91 not out against Sri Lanka helped team to achieve 212/7 in the semifinals, which they were able to successfully defend. ‘Man of the Match’ awards were given to Symonds for both of his match-winning knocks. He scored 326 runs in five matches during the 2003 World Cup, averaging 163.00 and a strike rate of 90.56.
In nine games during the VB series in 2003–2004, Symonds scored 349 runs. He continued it in the 2005–2006 VB Series also, scored 389 runs and taking 11 wickets, and was also awarded in both Player of the Series. He scored 5,088 runs in 198 ODIs at 39.75 average and a strike rate of 92.44 with 156 highest, including six hundreds and 30 fifties. In 2005 against New Zealand, Australia was 50 for 3 when Symonds came out to bat. He added a brilliant 220 runs partnership with Michael Clarke for the sixth wicket. Andrew Symonds scored 156 with a strike rate of 122.83 and smashed 12 boundaries and eight huge sixes. In the second final of the 2005-06 VB series, Australia were 10 for 3 then Symonds joined Ponting at the crease and built a big partnership. Both added 237 runs for the fourth wicket with both batsmen scoring centuries. Symonds scored terrific 151 runs with 13 fours and three massive sixes. Australia scored 368/5 in 50 overs.
8. Nathan Astle
There have many batsman who played the game but very few have been as charismatic as New Zealand’s best batsman of all time Nathan Astle. He is simply regarded as the best ODI batsman New Zealand has ever produced. He was one of the most dangerous batsman in the world, an outright nightmare for any opponent team. As and when he got set he could destroy any bowling attack in the world. Astle use to play shots all around the park and was equally dangerous against pacers and spinners. Astle scored 16 centuries the most One-Day international centuries of any New Zealand batsman to date.
Since 1990, Nathan Astle’s 49.6 batting average against Australia in Test matches ranks fifth of all-time. Astle performed well in the 1998-99 series, scoring over 600 runs in the home series against South Africa and the Singer-Akai Nidahas Trophy (1998). Against Pakistan in 2001 ODI series, New Zealand had to chase 286 runs in the final match of the series and he scored a match-winning 119 runs with 21 fours. This knock helped New Zealand to win the series from 3-2. He scored 690 ODI runs from 11 games during the summer in New Zealand, averaging 54.2. He scored an unbeaten 115 against India in the Videocon Tri-Series final in Zimbabwe in 2005. Astle was named “player of the match” as New Zealand won the tournament.
In 2002 England toured to New Zealand to play five ODIs and three tests. He scored 221 runs in the ODI series at an average of 73.66, including a match winning century of 122 in the 5th final match of the series thanks to which New Zealand won the ODI series from 3-2. In the first test against England at number five, Astle scored phenomenal and the most greatest 222 runs his highest test score while chasing a target of 550. He reached the milestone in just 153 balls, set the record for the fastest double-century in test cricket history with 28 fours and 11 massive sixes. Astle scored his first century in 114 balls, and the next hundred was just in 39 balls. There has never been, or will ever be, a greatest knock in the fourth inning in test cricket. It was an innings of pure excellence.
9. Abdul Razzaq
Abdul Razzaq is well popularly regarded as one of the best all rounder in the world. He was extremely lethal with the bat, in terms of his hard hitting skills. His arsenal of strokes was outstanding, as he excels at driving through cover and mid-off. He played plenty of match winning innings and won many challenging games for Pakistan. His bottom hand batting style made him a hard hitter of the cricket ball and one of the most dangerous batsman in the world. On many occasions, he had showed how to win a lost game. In the 1999-2000 Carlton series, Razzaq hit five consecutive fours in an over to the best fast bowler in the world Glenn McGrath.
His Highest ODI score is 112 vs South Africa where he and Saleem Elahi combined for a 257-run partnership. Stephen Fleming referred to him as “the best hitter” in the world after he scored 89 runs in just 40 balls in an ODI match against New Zealand in 2003–04. In the 2003 Cherry Blossom Sharjah Cup, Pakistan have only scored 209 runs after 46 overs. After the whole team struggled, Razzaq scored unbeaten 76 off 53 balls with 7 huge sixes to lead Pakistan to a respectable 278 total. Razzaq hit a total of seven sixes and two fours, creaming 47 runs from the last two overs.
In 2005 ODI series, against England Abdul Razzaq, a destructive hitter with more earthbound talent. He scored fabulous 51 not out off just 22 balls with 3 massive sixes and 5 fours at 231.81 strike rate. Plunkett’s 44th over ended with a score of 21, while Anderson’s 47th over ended with a score of 23, including a six that slammed into the midwicket roof. In 2010 T20 match against New Zealand he scored 34 runs off just 11 balls and took three wickets for 13, helping Pakistan win the match and was awarded player of the match. On October 21, 2010, at the Abu Dhabi Stadium, when Pakistan was chasing 286 against South Africa, Razzaq scored 109 runs in a smoky and spectacular match-winning innings off just 72 balls, with seven fours and ten massive sixes at a strike rate of 151.38.
10. AB de Villiers
De Villiers was the creative and widely regarded as one the best batsman in the modern era. He currently holds the ODI record for the fastest century, off just 31 balls. In addition, he holds the records for the fastest 50 and fastest 150. He is well popularly known as the most dangerous batsman in the world in both ODI and T20 formats. De Villiers played 228 ODIs and 114 Tests, averaging above 50 in both formats. In test cricket he scored 8,765 runs with 46 fifties and 22 centuries. In ODIs he scored 9,427 runs with 25 centuries, and 52 fifties, the second-most by a South African in ODIs. De Villiers was fantastic at scooping the ball over his head for sixes or hitting cover drives. He simply thrilled fans with his invention all around the world.
He set world records thanks to his ability to improvise and play spectacular shots. With his creative shot play, he redefined what it means to bat by being able to strike the ball 360 degrees wherever on the ground!. The secret to his success was his ruthless force and sheer timing. He was extremely innovative, so much so that he could even sweep the fast bowlers at will. Along with Chris Gayle and Rohit Sharma, AB de Villiers holds the record for the most sixes 16 in an ODI innings. During his historical 149 runs knock against the West Indies, he accomplished this feat.
He holds the World Cup record for the most sixes. Chris Gayle and he each have 37 sixes to their names, making them the list’s joint leaders. AB smacked 21 sixes during the 2015 World Cup. In One Day Internationals, he holds the records for the fastest 50 (16 balls), 100 (31 balls), and 150 (64 balls). De Villiers crossed the mark of 50 sixes in a calendar year in ODIs during his course of 119 off 61 balls against India at Wankhede stadium in 2015. He broke Shahid Afrid’s 13-year-old 48 sixes record, set in the year 2002. He won three ICC ODI Player of the Year awards in all. He received it in 2010, 2014, and 2015.
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