KING OF SIXES

. . . Raza gave us a reason to smile

MELBOURNE. - Sikandar Raza leads the chart for the most number of sixes among batsmen at the end of the group stage of the T20 World Cup 2022.

The Zimbabwe all-rounder also became the first cricketer, in the history of T20I, to score more than 500 runs and capture 25 wickets, in a calendar year.

who scored 219 runs in the eight innings has hit 11 sixes at a batting average of 27.37.

Kusal Mendis takes the second spot with 10 sixes to his credit as the Sri Lankan ended the tournament with 223 runs in eight innings.

Ireland skipper Andrew Balbirnie is third on the list with nine sixes from seven innings scoring 223 runs at an average of 21.85.

Defending champion Australia crashed out of the World Cup but Marcus Stoinis did set the stage on fire with his batting pyrotechnics.

The Australian all-rounder occupies the fourth spot in the list with nine sixes from four innings scoring 126 runs at an average of 42.00.

South Africa’s Rilee Rossouw, who hit the first century of the T20 World Cup 2022 against Bangladesh and became the first South African to score a T20 World Cup hundred takes the fifth spot with nine sixes scoring 141 runs from four innings at an average of 35.25.

New Zealand, Pakistan, India and England made it to the semifinals but none of the teams’ players feature in the top-five list of most sixes.

India opener and vice-captain KL Rahul and middle-order dynamite Suryakumar Yadav with eight sixes each occupy the eighth and ninth spots respectively.

The duo has a chance to break into the topfive, given the fact that India has got two more matches if it qualifies for the final.