October 4, Kathmandu – South African batsman Luan-Dre Pretorius has shattered the long-standing men’s T20 cricket record for the highest individual score held by Chris Gayle. Representing the Titans in the CSA T20 Challenge, the 20-year-old Pretorius scored an unbeaten 188 runs against the Knights. He struck 15 fours and 13 sixes in just 79 balls. In doing so, he surpassed Gayle’s previous record of 175 runs, set in 2013 while playing for Royal Challengers Bangalore against Pune Warriors.
Pretorius reached his half-century in 24 balls and completed his century within 16 additional deliveries. He now equals Aaron Finch and Marcus Stoinis as one of the fastest players to score 150 runs in T20 cricket regarding balls faced.
Pretorius’s 188 runs left him just 12 runs short of becoming the first player to score a double century in T20 cricket. His explosive innings helped the Titans post 267 runs for the loss of three wickets in their 20 overs, marking the second-highest team total in the CSA T20 Challenge. Previously, the Titans scored 271 runs for three wickets against the Knights in 2022. Before Pretorius’s feat, the highest individual score in the CSA T20 Challenge was 162 runs by Dewald Brevis in 2022, also against the Knights.
This match marked Pretorius’s first game of the 2026–27 season. In the recent tri-series against Zimbabwe and Namibia in September, he had scored 94 and 101 runs in the last two matches respectively.
