We dig up some numbers to see exactly how good a puller he is
Bharath Seervi24-Mar-2020Rohit Sharma is one of the finest pullers in the game. However, a recent tweet from ICC’s handle asked fans to pick the batsman with the best pull shot from a list of four that did not feature Sharma, which got a rise out of him. So how good is Sharma, really? We crunched some numbers to find out.Who has the most productive pull?•ESPNcricinfo LtdCurrently no batsman hits more sixes on the pull than Sharma. From the start of 2015, he has struck 116 sixes playing the pull shot across formats in international cricket. Overall, Sharma has played the pull shot against 570 deliveries which is about a six every fifth ball. The batsman with the second most sixes off the pull shot — Eoin Morgan with 47 — has not even hit half as many as Sharma.
Not many batsmen can boast of the pull shot as their most productive option. Since 2015, Sharma has scored 1567 runs off the pull shot, which is the most runs any shot has fetched him across formats. His strike rate when he pulls is a staggering 274.91, which is also the best among all batsmen who have scored 500-plus runs playing the pull shot.ESPNcricinfo LtdSharma has scored 17.47% of his runs from the pull shot across formats since 2015, which is also the highest among all batsmen who have scored 5000-plus runs during this period. Even if the minimum requirement is reduced to 3000 runs, Sharma tops the list. In ODIs alone, he has scored 19.37% of his runs off the pull shot. These numbers confirm that Sharma is among the very best in the game when it comes to the pull.
