Virat Kohli vs Rohit Sharma - who has scored most fours in Tests, ODIs and T20s?
Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma are the two best batters India have at the moment. While the former has etched his name among the best in the world, Sharma too has come into his own over the last five years or so.
Kohli is a true modern-day giant whose dominance extends across all three formats of the game. Sharma, however, is predominantly a white-ball cricketer, who is mainly lauded for his contributions in ODI and T20Is.
Both batters have style and elegance of their own, and are known to tear into opposition bowling attacks whenever they are in good nick. Sometimes, comparing the two takes away the joy they offer to us while batting.
Over the years, both have been excellent servants of Indian cricket. While Kohli has won an ODI World Cup and T20 World Cup, Sharma has been a part of two T20 World Cup-winning sides. They are both highly experienced cricketers.
While both of them are legends in their own right, in this piece, we try to decode which of the two players has scored the most number of boundaries in all formats of the game. It also gives us glimpses of who they are as batters.
Virat Kohli wins the overall race but Rohit Sharma has the edge in T20Is
Kohli has scored a total of 1009, 1302, and 369 boundaries across Tests, ODIs, and T20Is, respectively. For Sharma, the corresponding numbers are 464, 1012, and 383. Therefore, it is clear to see that Kohli has the upper hand in Tests and ODIs.
However, Sharma manages to pip Kohli by 14 boundaries in the shortest format of the game. In this format, Sharma is also the leading run-scorer in the world (4231), although both he and Kohli called it quits after the 2024 T20 World Cup in the West Indies and the USA.
If one were to compare the aggregates of the boundaries scored by each player, it comes down heavily in Kohli's favour. He has bagged 2680 boundaries across all three formats, while Sharma has picked up 1859.
In Tests and ODIs, where Kohli's aggregate runs are more than Sharma's, he has more boundaries to his name. However, in T20Is, as mentioned earlier, Sharma is the leader since he also has scored more runs than the former.
The Delhi batter has 9017 runs in his Test career, more than double the 4233 that Sharma has accumulated so far. However, the gap arises due to the number of matches played by the two as well. While Kohli has played 116 Tests, Sharma has played just 62.
In ODIs, where Sharma is rated extremely highly because of his ability to attack against the new ball, he has 10,866 runs to his name. Kohli, on the other hand, has 13,906 runs. In this format too, Kohli has picked up more boundaries.
It is, therefore, clear from the comparisons made above that Kohli is the winner by some distance if the all-format record is to be considered. If we were to go by individual formats, however, Sharma has scored more boundaries in T20Is only.