Pretorius breaks Gayle's T20 record with unbeaten 188 in Titans win

Lhuan-dre Pretorius set a new record for the highest individual score in men's T20 cricket, making an unbeaten 188 as Titans defeated Knights by 124 runs in Bloemfontein on Friday. BBC Sport reported that the 20-year-old South African's innings surpassed Chris Gayle's 175 for Royal Challengers Bangalore against Pune Warriors in the 2013 Indian Premier League.

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Pretorius faced 79 deliveries at Mangaung Oval and struck 15 fours and 13 sixes, finishing with a strike rate of 237.97. His boundary hitting alone produced 138 runs, while his final score was 13 above Gayle's previous mark. Titans completed their 20 overs on 267-3 in the CSA T20 Challenge after choosing to bat.

The acceleration continued through successive milestones. According to BBC Sport, Pretorius reached his half-century in 24 balls, needed only another 16 deliveries to complete his hundred and passed 150 from 58 balls. He remained unbeaten at the end of the innings, having supplied more than two-thirds of his team's total.

Cricbuzz's scorecard showed that Titans' other batters played smaller supporting innings. Sinethemba Qeshile made 14 from 10 balls, Dewald Brevis scored seven and Leus du Plooy contributed 17. Captain Donovan Ferreira finished unbeaten on 29 from 11 deliveries, including a four and two sixes. Twelve extras added to the total, leaving Knights a target of 268.

Knights were dismissed for 143 in 17.2 overs. Gihahn Cloete led their scoring with 39 from 25 balls, while Jacques Snyman made 32 from 12. The reply stood at 89-3 when George Van Heerden was dismissed, and Cloete's departure left Knights 115-5. None of the remaining batters reached double figures as the chase fell well short.

Ferreira followed his batting contribution with figures of 3-16 from four overs, and Junior Dala took 3-23, including the final wicket. Tabraiz Shamsi added 2-23, with Eathan Bosch and Dayyaan Galiem taking one wicket each. That bowling effort completed a comprehensive team victory on a night defined by Pretorius replacing Gayle at the top of the men's T20 individual scoring list.