Top Five: Big Hitters

I've just watched a bit of Chris Gayle taking it to the Zimbabwe attack, and it got me thinking about power hitters.  Ever since that 1996 World Cup final, a premium has been placed on having some sort of hitter in the side, someone who can clear the infield in the powerplay overs and pepper the boundaries even with the field spread.  So who are the best exponents of this art?

1. Sanath Jayasuriya:  The original pinch hitter, it was Jayasuriya who started the craze, if not single handedly winning the World Cup for Sri Lanka, he was certainly their matchwinner with the bat.  Still smashing the ball over the ropes in his forties, he holds the record for the highest percentage of runs scored in boundaries in international Twenty20s - an impressive 71%.
   
2. Virender Sehwag:  What is there to say about this man that hasn't already been said?  One of only two players who have scored over 5,000 runs in ODIs to have done so at a strike rate of over 100, and he averages 11 better than the other man (more of whom later), plus a strike rate in tests of over 80.  The sheer brutality of his batting is a thrill to watch.
   
3. Shahid Afridi:  He hit what is still the fastest hundred in ODI history on debut at just 16, and he's been battering it about ever since.  Once a batting all rounder, now is more consistently a threat with the ball, but when he gets going you'd better be watching because its a sight to behold.  The violence with which he hits the ball is incredible, and there's always something happening when Boom Boom is about.
   
4. Yuvraj Singh:  How could I leave out the man who clobbered Stuart Broad for six sixes in an over in the first World Twenty20 all the way back in 2007:
   
   The short arm jab that Yuvraj seems to have perfected, it looks more like a golf stroke, is really something impressive to watch.  Yuvraj has walloped more sixes than he has fours in international Twenty20s, which unique in all forms of cricket as far as I'm aware.  Sheer power.
5. Chris Gayle:  The Coolest Man In Cricket, Gayle is scintillating and infuriating in equal measure but when he tees off the crowd had better be wearing hard hats.  His knock off 88 in the World Twenty20 at the Oval last year was staggering - Brett Lee was picked off like a club cricketer (alas no videos exist!).  He is a colossus at the crease - well over 6 feet and shoulders as wide as a London bus.  Not many can match his sheer power.
   

Honourable mentions for Brendon McCullum and Abdul Razzaq, Adam Gilchrist wasn't bad either!  I'm sure there's plenty of others besides as well!