Most Fours Across All Formats

Hitting sixes might be cool. But tearing past a packed fielding setup to hit a four is no less than an art.

It takes years of practice to score some fine boundaries. And a few batters scored many of them effortlessly.

So here’s a look at the batters with the most fours in all formats combined.

Most Fours across All Formats

Player	Mat	Inns	4s	Runs	HS	Avg	100s/50s	6s
Sachin Tendulkar (IND)	664	782	4076+	34357	248*	48.52	100/164	264
Kumar Sangakkara (Asia/ICC/SL)	594	666	3015	28016	319	46.77	63/153	159
Virat Kohli (IND)	565	632	2798	28527	254*	52.82	86/148	335
Ricky Ponting (AUS/ICC)	560	668	2781	27483	257	45.95	71/146	246
Mahela Jayawardene (Asia/SL)	652	725	2679	25957	374	39.15	54/136	170
Rahul Dravid (Asia/ICC/IND)	509	605	2604	24208	270	45.41	48/146	66
Brian Lara (ICC/WI)	430	521	2601	22358	400*	46.28	53/111	221
Sanath Jayasuriya (Asia/SL)	586	651	2486	21032	340	34.14	42/103	352
Jacques Kallis (Afr/ICC/SA)	519	617	2455	25534	224	49.1	62/149	254
Virender Sehwag (Asia/ICC/IND)	374	443	2408	17253	319	40.31	38/72	243
Chris Gayle (ICC/WI)	483	551	2332	19593	333	37.97	42/105	553
Joe Root (ENG)	396	523	2273	23074	262	49.72	61/122	117
Hashim Amla (SA/World)	349	437	2138	18672	311*	46.56	55/88	93
David Warner (AUS)	383	474	2106	18995	335*	42.39	49/98	321
Inzamam-ul-Haq (Asia/ICC/PAK)	499	551	2076	20580	329	43.32	35/129	193

Key Insights on Batters with Most Fours in International Cricket

All-Format and Individual Format Boundary Records

Sachin Tendulkar has scored the most fours across all formats combined. He smashed over 4076 of them in 782 innings for India.

Tendulkar scored 2058 of the 4076 fours in Tests, the most by any batter in the longest format.

Tendulkar has also hit the most fours in ODIs, with 2016 of them coming in 50-over cricket.

Babar Azam, Paul Stirling and Jos Buttler are the three batters with 400-plus fours in T20Is.

Virat Kohli, Joe Root and Rohit Sharma are the three active batters with more than 2000 fours in international cricket.

Venue-Specific and Home Versus Away Boundary Feats

Bangladesh’s Tamim Iqbal has scored the most fours at a single venue across formats. He smashed 535 boundaries at the Shere Bangla National Stadium in Dhaka.

Shakib Al Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim, both from Bangladesh, are the other two batters with 400-plus fours each at a single venue (Dhaka) in ODIs.

Tendulkar, meanwhile, has struck the most fours at home across formats, with 1754+ boundaries to his name in India.

The Master Blaster has also hit the most fours in away fixtures across formats, scoring 1674 boundaries.

Rahul Dravid, Kumar Sangakkara, Kohli, Ricky Ponting, Brian Lara and Viv Richards are the other batters with 1000-plus fours in away matches.

Opponent-Specific and Calendar Year Boundary Milestone Records

Tendulkar collected 764 of his fours against Australia, the most by a batter against an opponent across formats.

Tendulkar (544 vs Sri Lanka & 530 vs England) and Lara (550 vs Australia & 505 vs England) are the two batters with 500-plus fours against two or more opponents in international cricket.

Richards (555 vs England), Steven Smith (529+ vs England), Virat Kohli (521+ vs Australia) and Allan Border (510 vs England) are the other batters with 500-plus boundaries each against an opponent across formats.

Sri Lanka’s Tillakaratne Dilshan has scored the most fours in a calendar year across formats. He smashed 318 boundaries in 49 innings (42 matches) in 2009.

Sangakkara is the only batter to hit 300-plus fours each in two calendar years, having hit 307 in 2006 and 301 in 2014.

Kane Williamson (309 in 2015), Virender Sehwag (302 in 2008) and Ricky Ponting (300 in 2005) are the other three batters with 300-plus fours in a calendar year across formats.