Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma headline list for most fifties in T20 World Cup history

India’s star cricketer Virat Kohli holds the record for the most fifties in T20 World Cup history.

Having made his T20 World Cup debut against Afghanistan in Colombo in 2012, Virat Kohli has smashed 15 fifties in the marquee ICC T20 tournament.

Interestingly, Kohli scored his maiden T20 World Cup fifty in his very first match against Afghanistan. Batting at number three, Kohli slammed 50 off 39 balls to power India to a 23-run win. 

Since then, Kohli has amassed 1,292 runs in 35 matches at an impressive average of 58.72 and a strike rate of 128.81. While the former India captain has 14 half-centuries, he is yet to score a hundred in a T20 World Cup match.

Kohli’s teammate and current India cricket team captain Rohit Sharma features second on the list for most fifties in T20 World Cup.

Since making his T20 debut during the inaugural edition of the T20 World Cup in 2007, Rohit Sharma has hit 12 fifties in the tournament’s history. 

Rohit scored his first T20 World Cup fifty against hosts South Africa in the Super 8 stage encounter at Kingsmead, Durban.

Reeling at 33/3, the former middle-order batter scored an impressive fifty off 40 balls to help India post a match-winning total on the board.

Former West Indies cricketer Chris Gayle is third on the list. During the first-ever T20 World Cup match against hosts South Africa at The Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg in 2007, Gayle smashed the first fifty in the tournament’s history before he converted it to a three-figure milestone. The flamboyant southpaw scored a 57-ball 117, laced with seven fours and 10 sixes.

South Africa’s former opening batter Herschelle Gibbs later slammed an unbeaten 90 off just 55 balls to guide the Proteas to a scintillating eight-wicket victory in the opening match of the 2007 T20 World Cup.

Overall, Gayle has smashed seven fifties in the T20 World Cup history. He has also recorded two hundreds to his name.

Having played 33 T20 World Cup matches, Gayle is currently third in the most runs in T20 World Cup list. The left-hander has amassed 965 runs in 31 innings, behind Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma.

Most fifties in T20 World Cup

Photo credit: MONEY SHARMA / AFP