South Africa’s Pretorius smashes Gayle’s T20 cricket record score

Monday, 5 October 2026 02:15 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Lhuan-dre Pretorius

Lhuan-dre Pretorius hit 188* off 79 deliveries in Bloemfontein to break Chris Gayle’s record score in the T20 format.

Playing for the Titans against the Knights in the South African CSA Challenge, the 20-year-old left-hander opened the batting and hit 13 sixes and 14 fours in his innings to surpass Gayle’s 175 for Bengaluru in the Indian Premier League in 2013.

Pretorius reached 50 in 24 balls, needed 16 more to get to his century and took another 18 to hit 150.

Gayle scored his 175 off 66 balls, striking 17 sixes and 13 fours.

The 20-year-old has represented South Africa in all three international formats. He was making his first Titans appearance of the season after scoring 226 total runs, tied for most with Dewald Brevis, in a three-nation series in Namibia in September.

The second-highest scorer was Sinethemba Qeshile with 14 as the Titans finished on 267-3.

They then bowled out the Knights for 143 to win by 124 runs.