Published: Apr 28, 2015, 05:13 PM (IST)
Edited: Apr 28, 2015, 05:13 PM (IST)
In the tournament of fours and sixes, Bharath Seervi looks at the batsmen who scored their runs in Indian Premier League (IPL) with low percentage of boundaries.
The twenty-over format is the shortest in cricket. IPL it is, full of frenzy and excitement. More the number of boundaries, more are the runs for batsmen, and of course for the team — and more the cheers. All batsmen do wish to score quick runs, maintain a good strike rate and do the best for the team in short amount of time they get to bat. IPL 2015 Highest wicket-taker: List of best bowlers in IPL 8
Chris Gayle has scored more than 75% of his IPL runs in boundaries. He has scored 2,917 runs out of which 2,194 runs have come in boundaries (241 fours and 205 sixes). There are some more who have scored more than 70% of their IPL runs in boundaries but Gayle is the only one to score more than 75%. IPL 2015 Most 6s and 4s: List of most dangerous batsmen in IPL 8
In the tournament where expectation is to hit as many fours and sixes as possible, who are the players who have scored low percentage of their runs in boundaries and have relied on scoring singles and doubles? IPL 2015 schedule: IPL 8 match time table with venue details
It may be surprising to know that JP Duminy has scored just 48.75% of his IPL runs in boundaries. He has scored 1,608 runs of which 784 came in boundaries. Among all those players who scored more than 1,000 IPL runs, Duminy has the lowest percentage. IPL 2015 Points Table & Team Standings
He is a decent batsman and has played match saving innings when needed and in this season he is the captain of Delhi Daredevils (DD). Manoj Tiwary is the only other batsman with over 1,000 runs who has scored less than 50% of his IPL runs in boundaries.
Let us take a minimum cut-off of players who have scored 1000 or more runs in IPL and who have lower percentage of runs coming from fours and sixes. There are few surprising names.
Lowest percentage of IPL runs in boundaries (Min. 1000 runs)
| Player | Mat | Runs | Fours | Sixes | % of runs in boundaries |
| JP Duminy | 60 | 1608 | 97 | 66 | 48.75 |
| Manoj Tiwary | 77 | 1299 | 118 | 27 | 48.80 |
| Irfan Pathan | 98 | 1126 | 87 | 37 | 50.62 |
| Ravindra Jadeja | 100 | 1294 | 95 | 47 | 51.15 |
| Jacques Kallis | 98 | 2427 | 255 | 44 | 52.90 |
| Ambati Rayudu | 87 | 1789 | 159 | 52 | 52.99 |
| Ajinkya Rahane | 74 | 1978 | 207 | 37 | 53.08 |
| Ross Taylor | 55 | 1017 | 66 | 46 | 53.09 |
| Brad Hodge | 66 | 1400 | 122 | 43 | 53.28 |
| Subramaniam Badrinath | 95 | 1441 | 154 | 28 | 54.40 |
Though Subramaniam Badrinath did not smash a lot of boundaries, he was a part of almost all the matches played by Chennai Super Kings (CSK) till 2013.
Jacques Kallis has the lowest percentage of runs in boundaries among all those who scored more than 2,000 IPL runs. Next comes MS Dhoni, with 54.50%. Dhoni has a strike rate of over 140 and has hit the fourth-highest number of sixes, and still has the second lowest percentage of runs in boundaries among the 19 batsmen who scored over 2,000 IPL runs.
Below the tables list the batsmen who scored lowest percentage of their IPL runs in fours and sixes separately.
Lowest percentage of IPL runs in sixes (Min. 1000 runs)
| Batsman | Mat | Runs | Fours | Sixes | % of runs in Sixes |
| Sachin Tendulkar | 78 | 2334 | 295 | 29 | 7.46 |
| Parthiv Patel | 84 | 1484 | 189 | 19 | 7.68 |
| Rahul Dravid | 89 | 2174 | 268 | 28 | 7.73 |
| Gautam Gambhir | 109 | 2996 | 350 | 43 | 8.61 |
| Kumar Sangakkara | 71 | 1687 | 195 | 27 | 9.60 |
| Jacques Kallis | 98 | 2427 | 255 | 44 | 10.88 |
| Ajinkya Rahane | 74 | 1978 | 207 | 37 | 11.22 |
| Subramaniam Badrinath | 95 | 1441 | 154 | 28 | 11.66 |
| Manoj Tiwary | 77 | 1299 | 118 | 27 | 12.47 |
| Tillakaratne Dilshan | 52 | 1153 | 140 | 24 | 12.49 |
Sachin Tendulkar and Parthiv Patel, top two in the above list, are top two in the list of highest percentage of IPL runs in fours.
Gautam Gambhir has hit the most fours in IPL (350) and just 43 sixes. He is a mere four short of reaching 3,000 runs in his IPL career. He has scored 8.61% of his runs in sixes and 46.73% of runs in fours.
Lowest percentage of IPL runs in fours (Min. 1000 runs)
| Batsman | Mat | Runs | Fours | Sixes | % of runs in Fours |
| JP Duminy | 60 | 1608 | 97 | 66 | 24.13 |
| Ross Taylor | 55 | 1017 | 66 | 46 | 25.96 |
| David Hussey | 64 | 1322 | 90 | 60 | 27.23 |
| Yuvraj Singh | 91 | 1975 | 137 | 116 | 27.75 |
| David Miller | 40 | 1086 | 76 | 55 | 27.99 |
| Kieron Pollard | 84 | 1534 | 108 | 94 | 28.16 |
| MS Dhoni | 118 | 2785 | 204 | 117 | 29.30 |
| Ravindra Jadeja | 100 | 1294 | 95 | 47 | 29.37 |
| Dwayne Bravo | 80 | 1049 | 80 | 44 | 30.51 |
| Irfan Pathan | 98 | 1126 | 87 | 37 | 30.91 |
This list consists of several big hitters of the ball like Yuvraj Singh, David Miller, Kieron Pollard, Dhoni and Dwayne Bravo.
Footnote Trivia:
Pollard has the highest ratio of fours to sixes in IPL. He has hit 94 sixes and just 108 fours. In overall T20s, he is one step ahead. He has hit more sixes (348) than fours (344) in his career of 273 T20 matches. The next-best IPL ratio belongs to Albie Morkel — 52 sixes and 60 fours. It is not a coincidence that Pollard and Morkel are the two most experienced players in T20 cricket having played 273 and 268 matches respectively.
