Explosive West Indies opener Chris Gayle smashed a century off 30 balls in an Indian Premier League match on Tuesday and finished on 175 not out, the highest ever Twenty20 innings.

Playing for the Bangalore franchise, Gayle blasted 17 sixes and 13 fours off just 66 deliveries to take his team to a mammoth total of 263 for five wickets.

Pune captain Aaron Finch watched helplessly as the 33-year-old Jamaican swatted the bowlers to all parts of the ground and some of the sixes flew out of the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium.

Gayle's 30-ball century eclipsed the 34-ball hundred scored by Australian Andrew Symonds for Kent against Middlesex in 2004.

The left-hander also posted the highest individual score in a Twenty20 game, going past New Zealander Brendon McCullum's 158.

Flamboyant Pakistani Shahid Afridi holds the record of fastest international century in the 50-over format (37 balls) and South African Richard Richard Levi (45 balls) has made the quickest international T20 hundred.

Opinion

Editorial

Digital growth
Updated 25 Apr, 2024

Digital growth

Democratising digital development will catalyse a rapid, if not immediate, improvement in human development indicators for the underserved segments of the Pakistani citizenry.
Nikah rights
25 Apr, 2024

Nikah rights

THE Supreme Court recently delivered a judgement championing the rights of women within a marriage. The ruling...
Campus crackdowns
25 Apr, 2024

Campus crackdowns

WHILE most Western governments have either been gladly facilitating Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza, or meekly...
Ties with Tehran
Updated 24 Apr, 2024

Ties with Tehran

Tomorrow, if ties between Washington and Beijing nosedive, and the US asks Pakistan to reconsider CPEC, will we comply?
Working together
24 Apr, 2024

Working together

PAKISTAN’S democracy seems adrift, and no one understands this better than our politicians. The system has gone...
Farmers’ anxiety
24 Apr, 2024

Farmers’ anxiety

WHEAT prices in Punjab have plummeted far below the minimum support price owing to a bumper harvest, reckless...