Most sixes by a player in a Test match (male)

Rohit Sharma’s (India) 13 sixes in the first match of India’s 2019 home series against South Africa at ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India, on 2–3 and 5 October broke the Test match record of 12, set by Pakistan’s Wasim Akram (in one innings) against Zimbabwe on 19–20 October 1996.

Opening batsman Sharma clobbered six sixes in India’s first innings and seven in their second innings as the hosts beat South Africa by 203 runs. Sharma’s haul of 13 sixes were among the 27 hit by India in the match, which, when added to South Africa’s tally of 10, smashed the record for the most sixes in a Test match (37).

As of 5 October 2019, Sharma held the Indian records for the most sixes in a match in all three international formats (Tests – 13; One-Day Internationals – 16; and Twenty20 Internationals – 10).

Sharma’s 176 in the first innings and 127 in the second innings saw him become the first player to hit twin tons in their first Test match as an opening batsman, and his innings of 127 was his seventh consecutive Test score of 50 or more in India, surpassing Rahul Dravid’s previous home record of six 50+ scores.

Sharma, who had previously played 27 Test matches for India batting anywhere between No.3 and No.6, was stumped by Quinton de Kock off the bowling of Keshav Maharaj in both innings – the first time in his first-class career that he’d been stumped.

Akram retains the record for the most sixes by a player in a Test match innings (male), having cleared the boundary rope 12 times while compiling a first-innings 257 not out against Zimbabwe at Sheikhupura Stadium, Pakistan, on 19–20 October 1996. Pakistan batted just once in the drawn match, thus denying Akram the opportunity to add to his tally of maximums in the second innings.