Players with most centuries in T20 cricket: From Chris Gayle to Rohit Sharma

The record for most centuries in T20 cricket belongs to West Indies great Chris Gayle, who has hit a whopping 22 tons in his career, which began in 2005.

A seasoned T20 cricketer, Gayle has played for as many as 29 different teams including Lahore Qalandars and Quetta Gladiators in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) and the likes of Team Punjab, Team Bangalore and Team Kolkata in the Indian T20 League.

Gayle, who also holds the record for most runs in T20 cricket, made his T20I debut for the West Indies in 2006 against New Zealand. In his debut T20I innings, the self-proclaimed Universal Boss scored just 10 runs off 14 balls. The southpaw scored his first T20I half-century in his third outing which came against England in 2007.

Chris Gayle’s first century in the shortest format came a match later when West Indies played South Africa in the first match of the 2007 ICC World Twenty20. The hard-hitting batsman scored 117 runs in just 57 deliveries to help West Indies post 205/6.

Unfortunately for him, South Africa chased down the target with eight wickets in hand and 14 balls remaining.

Of the 22 centuries Gayle has scored in T20 cricket, just two have come for the national team. Meanwhile, as many as six have come in the Indian T20 League, five in Bangladesh Premier League and one in the Australian Big Bash League. He is yet to score a hundred in the Pakistan Super League.

During his 463 T20 matches, Gayle has also hit a record 1,056 sixes. He is the only batsman to hit more than 1000 sixes in T20 cricket. This is followed by 1,132 boundaries, which is again the most by any player in the format. 

Of the many records the Universal Boss holds in the shortest format is that of the highest individual total in T20 cricket. While playing for Team Bangalore in the 2013 Indian T20 League, the left-handed batter scored an unbeaten 175 off just 66 deliveries against the now-defunct Team Pune at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium. 

He is one of the two players alongside Aaron Finch to score more than 170 runs in a T20 innings.

Miles ahead of the competition

Gayle’s position at the top of the list for players with most centuries in T20 cricket won’t be changing anytime soon.

Three different players, Australia’s Michael Klinger, David Warner and Aaron Finch, follow Gayle in the leaderboards with eight T20 tons each. 

Most centuries by an Indian player in T20 cricket

The record for most centuries by an Indian player in T20 cricket is shared by KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma, both of whom have scored six centuries in the format. For Rahul, four of those six tons have come in the Indian T20 League and the rest have come for the Indian cricket team.

On the contrary, Rohit has only scored one century in the Indian T20 League while four have come for the national team. The sixth one was scored while playing for Mumbai against Gujarat in the 2006-07 season of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.

Most centuries in T20 cricket

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Featured photo: AFP / Chandan Khanna