Pretorius scored 188* off 79 balls, surpassing Chris Gayle’s 175* to set a new highest men’s T20 score.
Pretorius breaks Gayle’s T20 record with 188*
In Bloemfontein, Lhuan-dre Pretorius produced a landmark innings for Titans in the CSA T20 Challenge, scoring an unbeaten 188 from 79 balls against Knights. This surpassed Chris Gayle’s 175* for Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the 2013 IPL, ending the West Indian’s 13-year reign as record holder. Pretorius’s knock included 15 fours and 13 sixes at a strike rate of 237.97, and he tied Aaron Finch and Marcus Stoinis for the longest men’s T20 innings in terms of balls faced.
| Batter | Team | Score | Balls | Opponent | Venue/Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lhuan-dre Pretorius | Titans | 188* | 79 | Knights | Bloemfontein, 2026 |
| Chris Gayle | Royal Challengers Bangalore | 175* | 66 | Pune Warriors India | Bengaluru, 2013 |
| Aaron Finch | Australia | 172 | 76 | Zimbabwe | Harare, 2018 |
| Hamza Khan | Rwanda | 164* | 65 | Ivory Coast | Gaborone, 2026 |
| Karanbir Singh | Austria | 164 | 57 | Hungary | Szodliget, 2026 |
Why this innings changes the T20 landscape
Pretorius’s near-double century reflects the ongoing shift towards hyper-aggressive batting in T20 cricket, aided by flat pitches and risk-heavy strategies. His 138 boundary runs underline the dominance of power hitting, yet his acceleration pattern—50 in 24 balls, 100 in 40, and 150 in 58—shows calculated pacing. The feat also comes amid a surge in high scores, with recent records in CSA T20 Challenge and global T20 competitions suggesting a rising ceiling for individual performances.
Titans’ dominant win and player reactions
Titans posted 267/3, their second-highest CSA T20 Challenge total, before bowling out Knights for 143 to seal a 124-run win. Pretorius shared a rapid 100-run stand with Sinethemba Qeshile and finished alongside captain Donovan Ferreira’s 29* off 11 balls. The match marked the season’s first at Mangaung Oval and reinforced Titans’ dominance, as they now hold the five highest team totals in the competition’s history.
From rising star to record holder
Pretorius’s record-breaking innings came in his first match of the 2026-27 season, following scores of 94 and 101 in September’s tri-series. A standout at the 2024 Under-19 World Cup and SA20’s leading run-scorer in 2025, he has quickly risen through domestic, international, and IPL ranks. With only 22 internationals played but 91 T20 matches at a strike rate of 150.44, his career trajectory suggests further milestones ahead.