It is probably best to begin the piece with Virat Kohli. He has retired from T20Is and has been short of runs in Test cricket, but that does not seem to have significantly affected his ODI run-making. His 51 ODI hundreds are already the most in the format, and he will certainly make more of them. Given the alarm bells around the future of ODI cricket, his record is as likely to stand the test of time as Jack Hobbs’ 199 first-class hundreds.

It is not about the hundreds alone. Only two batters have more ODI runs than Kohli (14,085) – and of them, Kumar Sangakkara (14,234) is not even a hundred and fifty runs ahead. It will, however, take some effort to catch up with Sachin Tendulkar (18,426).

To amass as many runs as Kohli while averaging 58.20 and striking at 93 seems absurd. But then, there have been other giants of the format. Viv Richards used to strike at 91 in a career that ended in 1991. Tendulkar maintained an average touching 45 for more than two decades. Michael Bevan averaged even more despite playing mostly in the 1990s. Shahid Afridi averaged only 24, but he struck at 117, and still holds the world record for most sixes.

It is clear that they were – are – different batters. Afridi was an elite six hitter. Few matched Bevan when it came to running between the wickets.

For this study, we shall consider the fifty best batters in ODI history. Forty-six men have more than 7,000 runs in the format until February 27, 2025. To fill the other slots, we shall pick three trailblazers – Richards, Dean Jones, and Bevan; and a modern-day great, Joe Root.

Let us start by a basic study of the two most commonly used parameters, average and strike rate. Of course, this will give only a very basic picture: while a strike rate of 80 was exceptional in the 1980s, it is considered slow today.

all numbers until February 27, 2025

Who are the best boundary-hitters?

The six comes with an obvious risk, of losing a wicket, but that has hardly prevented some batters to prefer the aerial route. But how often do they do that?

Afridi, predictably, leads the way. The usual suspects, Rohit Sharma and Chris Gayle, do well, while Richards, Sanath Jayasuriya, and Virender Sehwag all feature towards the top. At the other end of the spectrum is Marvan Atapattu, who took 140 overs (nearly three full-length team ODI innings) per six.

On the other hand, Sehwag put away 14.3 per cent of the balls he faced (about one every 1.1 overs) for fours. Adam Gilchrist (11.7), Afridi (10.6), and Jayasuriya (10.2), all of whom were prolific six-hitters, are the only others with a more than 10 per cent boundary conversion as well.

But what if one combines the two parameters? Which batters have hit any boundary most often?

all numbers until February 27, 2025; for some 20th-century batters, only innings with boundaries data has been considered

What connects the top five on the above chart? Barring Gayle, all of them average below 36. And even Gayle averages below 38 in the format. Most of them also had the advantage of batting inside the powerplay, which is also true for the next two names on the list, Rohit Sharma and Martin Guptill.

Sehwag, Afridi, and Gayle have also scored more than 60 per cent of their career runs in boundaries – more than twice as many as Bevan and Javed Miandad, both of whom have got below 30 per cent.

Impressive as these numbers are, they capture only a tiny fraction of what the batters did while at the crease. Most batters do not hit for more than 90 per cent of their innings. What they do for the rest of the innings, thus, often end up determining their legacy.

The short-run machines

At the other end of the spectrum are the batters who depend on their feet for most of their scoring. Since they are not among the most prolific boundary hitters, it is important to check what they do off the other balls. For that, a relevant parameter is their strike rate off the balls in which they do not hit a boundary.

all numbers until February 27, 2025; for some 20th-century batters, only innings with boundaries data have been considered

Three modern-day ODI greats head this list. Root ranks only 31st on the list of fifty, but his ability to rotate the strike makes him stand out in this respect. Root’s non-boundary strike rate of 60 is only slightly behind Desmond Haynes’s career strike rate of 63 – an example of how ODIs have changed.

De Villiers, Kohli, and Bevan are expected entries as well, as are Arjuna Ranatunga and Mohammad Azharuddin, two masters of the middle overs of their era. All five had reputations for running well between the wickets throughout their careers.

The Waugh twins played most of their cricket on the enormous Australian grounds, where boundaries were scarce and they had to find a way. Afridi makes it here as well. As long as he lasted at the crease, he was better at six-hitting than anyone on this, could hit fours, and could even run the singles. The problem was, he lasted only 20 balls per dismissal...

At the other end of the spectrum is Gayle, a man who seldom cared for running hard between the wickets. He still had impressive ODI numbers, but that no-running-big-hitting brand of batting was part of what made him the T20 behemoth.

The modern era

What about modern-day batters? How have scoring patterns changed over the years? Scoring rates have obviously gone up, but is that due to boundaries or running between the wickets?

all numbers until February 27, 2025

As is evident, there has been little change in what the batters have done in the non-boundary balls over the years. The annual non-boundary strike rate used to hover around the 48-mark in the late noughties. It is yet to reach 50 or, barring 2024, drop below 45.

At the same time, the average number of boundaries in a team innings has gone up from 20.7 in 2000 to 30 in 2025. Of course, one can ignore 2025 as a small sample, but it had also scaled 2020 in 29.3 and 30.9 in the World Cup year of 2023.

The increase in scoring rates, thus, has to do with boundary-hitting, not better running between the wickets. It may, thus, be pertinent to check the best in either department in this decade. For that, let us consider the batters from ICC Full Member nations with over a thousand ODI runs.

all numbers until February 27, 2025

The top three batters on this list – Klaasen, Buttler, Miller – are power hitters (and sought-after franchise players), as is Maxwell, seventh on the list. In fact, Maxwell (136) and Klaasen (124) have the best strike rates of this lot. However, that is not the only thing they have relied on. When they cannot put a ball away for four or six, they make sure they score off the balls.

Predictably, Kohli is close to the top place despite a slump that spanned three years in our chosen period: even when he was not getting the big scores, he was ensuring that the strike was being rotated. Latham, another master of the middle order, is not too far behind.

At the other end of the spectrum are five renowned big hitters with little inclination to run. Rohit, in fact, scores at only 38 off non-boundary balls (but has struck at 114). There are some other openers as well.

all numbers until February 27, 2025

Let us begin with our duo of Maxwell and Klaasen, who were towards the top on the previous list as well. It is not difficult to understand why they are more feared than the others. The list is headed by openers who rely on boundaries in the powerplay overs – and, as we have seen, do not run much when they cannot put them away.

Rohit, at the bottom of the previous list, is the only one to hit 100 sixes over this period – and is quite close to the top. Maxwell, Head, and Rohit are the only ones who hit more than 18 per cent of the balls they face away for boundaries (for perspective, 16.7 per cent amounts to a boundary an over). Gill, Rohit’s opening partner, is not too far behind, and neither is Iyer. Kohli, on the other hand, is at 9.7 per cent. The only Indian below him is Rahul, who is also the second-best on the non-boundary list. The Indian quintet complements each other quite well.

Babar and Rizwan, Pakistan’s modern-day mainstays, feature fairly low on this list but somewhat higher on the first, but perhaps more interesting are the near-interchangeable positions of Fakhar and Imam: one can see how they, at least for a time, worked so well as a pair.

One can see how sorely Australia missed Warner and Marsh, two of their three most prolific boundary hitters, even with Head’s presence. On the other hand, it may not be a bad idea for England to recall at least one of Bairstow and Malan, both of whom have been prolific hitters.

Time will tell whether the focus will shift completely towards boundaries in future, making singles a near-redundant exercise.