CricPage Editorial

Highest Individual T20 Score Ever Recorded

Chris Gayle’s unbeaten 175 remains the highest individual T20 score ever recorded at senior level, set for Royal Challengers Bangalore against Pune Warriors India on April 23, 2013. This page ranks the top individual scores across IPL, T20 Internationals, T20 World Cups and recognized domestic T20 cricket, and explains why the record has proven so hard to break.

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Why It Survived
Chris Gayle celebrates his record 175* for Royal Challengers Bangalore

Chris Gayle celebrates during his unbeaten 175 for Royal Challengers Bangalore, the highest individual score in T20 cricket history. ©RCB

This ranking covers completed innings in recognized top-level T20 cricket, including the IPL, Twenty20 Internationals, T20 World Cups and major recognized domestic T20 tournaments.

Only recognized senior T20 innings qualify for this list. Under-19, women’s cricket and unofficial invitational fixtures are tracked separately.

How the Highest T20 Score Record Has Evolved

Brendon McCullum’s 158* on the opening night of the IPL in 2008 was the first score to put T20’s ceiling on the map, and it stood as the format’s benchmark innings for years. The record has moved in bursts rather than steadily since then — Chris Gayle’s 175* arrived in 2013 and immediately made every previous mark look modest, while the highest score specific to Twenty20 Internationals shifted separately, from Hazratullah Zazai’s 162 for Afghanistan in 2019 to Aaron Finch’s 172 for Australia in 2018.

Recent seasons have expanded the top-score conversation, but the outright record remains Chris Gayle’s 175*. Aaron Finch’s 172 is still second overall, while Hamza Khan and Karambir Singh both moved into the 164 range in 2026.

How This Ranking Is Verified

This list ranks innings by total runs scored in a single completed innings of recognized senior T20 cricket, including franchise, domestic and T20 International matches. Ties are separated by balls faced, then match chronology.

How the ranking works: every innings on this list comes from a completed, recognized senior T20 match. T20I-only and World Cup-only records are explained separately because they sit inside the wider T20 record book.

Highest Individual T20 Score Ever — Full Ranked List

RankRunsBalls4s6sSRPlayerTeamOppositionGroundMatch DateScorecard
1175*661317265.15Chris GayleRoyal Challengers BangalorePune Warriors IndiaBengaluru23 Apr 2013T20
2172761610226.31Aaron FinchAustraliaZimbabweHarare3 Jul 2018T20I #683
3164*65915252.30Hamza KhanRwandaIvory CoastGaborone (Oval 1)24 May 2026T20I #3904
4164571812287.71Karambir SinghAustriaHungarySzodliget28 Jun 2026T20I #4002
5162*711411228.16Hamilton MasakadzaMountaineersEaglesBulawayo11 Feb 2016T20
6162*621116261.29Hazratullah ZazaiAfghanistanIrelandDehradun23 Feb 2019T20I #746
7162*721411225.00Sahibzada FarhanPeshawarQuettaMultan21 Mar 2025T20
8162571313284.21Dewald BrevisTitansKnightsPotchefstroom31 Oct 2022T20
916173207220.54Adam LythYorkshireNorthantsLeeds17 Aug 2017T20
1016063517253.96Mohammad IhsanSpainCroatiaCartagena7 Dec 2025T20I #3612
11158*731013216.43Brendon McCullumKolkata Knight RidersRoyal Challengers BangaloreBengaluru18 Apr 2008T20
12158*641311246.87Brendon McCullumWarwickshireDerbyshireBirmingham3 Jul 2015T20
13156631114247.61Aaron FinchAustraliaEnglandSouthampton29 Aug 2013T20I #328
14155681113227.94Mitchell OwenWashington FreedomMI New YorkDallas20 Jun 2026T20
15154*64224240.62Glenn MaxwellMelbourne StarsHobart HurricanesMelbourne19 Jan 2022T20
16153*661211231.81Luke WrightSussexEssexChelmsford25 Jul 2014T20

Data checked July 5, 2026.

Why Chris Gayle's 175 Has Survived Since 2013

Three factors explain the longevity of Gayle’s mark. Bowling attacks have specifically adapted to high-risk power hitters over the past decade, with far wider use of variations and field settings built around exactly this kind of innings. Powerplay fielding restrictions, while still generous, have been fine-tuned since 2013 in several leagues. And hitting 175 in a 120-ball innings requires almost no delivery wasted for over a third of the game — a level of sustained risk-taking that even today’s most explosive batters rarely attempt for a full 20 overs rather than in bursts.

Record Quick Facts

Record holder
Chris Gayle
Score

175* off 66 balls

Team

Royal Challengers Bangalore

Opponent
Pune Warriors India
Date
April 23, 2013

The record has stood for over 13 years as of July 2026. Aaron Finch’s 172 in 2018 is the closest any player has come, and that innings came in a different format bucket entirely (T20I rather than a franchise league).

The highest T20 score, the highest T20I score, and the highest T20 World Cup score are three separate records, not one. Gayle’s 175* is the ceiling across all recognized T20 cricket; Finch’s 172 is the T20I-only ceiling; and Brendon McCullum’s 123 for New Zealand against Bangladesh in 2012 is the highest score specifically in a T20 World Cup match, since World Cup bowling attacks are consistently stronger. Conflating these three is one of the most common mistakes in cricket stats content online.

Highest T20 Score Record Timeline

The record for the highest individual T20 score has moved only a handful of times in T20 cricket’s short history, and it has moved even less often since 2013. The timeline below tracks the innings that have defined the format’s ceiling, in the format each was set in.

5 Key Numbers Behind the Record

Runs scored
175, unbeaten, off just 66 balls
Sixes hit
17 sixes — more than half his total runs came in sixes alone
Fours hit
13 fours, adding to a boundary-heavy scoring pattern
Strike rate
265.15 — more than two and a half runs per ball faced
Balls to reach 100
30 balls — still the fastest century in T20 cricket at any level

Taken together, these numbers explain why 175* has outlasted every power-hitting era since 2013: not just a high score, but a scoring rate sustained for a full innings against an international-quality bowling attack.

Could Gayle's Record Be Broken?

Modern T20 batting has more power-hitters capable of 150-plus scores than at any point since 2013. The 2026 additions from Hamza Khan, Karambir Singh and Mitchell Owen show how quickly the chasing pack is moving, but no recognized senior T20 innings has yet gone past Chris Gayle’s 175*.

What It Would Take to Break This Record

5 Key Trends Driving Bigger T20 Scores

Across IPL, T20I and domestic T20 cricket, the biggest individual scores now come from several routes: small-boundary venues, powerplay acceleration, longer batting depth and openers batting deep. The updated table also shows why full first and last names matter: initials can hide players across different competitions and countries.

Recent seasons have expanded the top-score conversation, but the outright record remains Chris Gayle’s 175*. Aaron Finch’s 172 is still second overall, while Hamza Khan and Karambir Singh both moved into the 164 range in 2026.

The pattern across formats is consistent: scoring rates are rising nearly everywhere, but the very top of the record book has barely moved. Whether anyone finally overtakes Gayle’s 175* is now one of the most open questions in T20 cricket.

Highest T20 Score By Format

Highest score in IPL history: Chris Gayle’s 175* for Royal Challengers Bangalore against Pune Warriors India in 2013 — the highest individual score in IPL history by 23 runs over anyone else who has played the tournament.

Highest score in T20I history: Aaron Finch’s 172 for Australia against Zimbabwe in 2018. Highest score in T20 World Cup history: Brendon McCullum’s 123 for New Zealand against Bangladesh in 2012 — a separate, lower bar than the T20I record overall, since World Cup attacks are consistently stronger than a typical bilateral series.

Highest T20 Score FAQs

Chris Gayle’s unbeaten 175 for Royal Challengers Bangalore against Pune Warriors India in the 2013 IPL is the highest individual score in a recognized top-level T20 match.

Aaron Finch’s 172 for Australia against Zimbabwe in 2018 is the highest score in Twenty20 International history.

Brendon McCullum’s 123 off 58 balls for New Zealand against Bangladesh in the 2012 tournament is the highest individual score specifically in T20 World Cup history — a separate, lower bar than the overall T20I record.

Among Indian batters in recognized senior T20 cricket, Shreyas Iyer set the benchmark with 147 for Mumbai against Sikkim in the 2018-19 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.

No player in a recognized top-level T20 tournament has scored higher since. Aaron Finch’s 172 in 2018 is the nearest any player has come.

Gayle’s 175* included a century in just 30 balls, the fastest hundred in T20 cricket at any level. The fastest century specifically in a T20I belongs to David Miller, who reached three figures in 35 balls for South Africa against Bangladesh in 2017.

Gayle hit 17 sixes and 13 fours during his 175* off 66 balls, meaning more than half his runs came from sixes alone.

This list ranks completed innings from recognized senior T20 cricket only — IPL, T20I, T20 World Cup and major recognized domestic T20 tournaments — excluding exhibition matches, T10-format games and unofficial fixtures.

Chris Gayle
IPL Records
T20 World Cup

AB Ankit is Editor-in-chief of CricPage.

Article Guide

Ranked List

The full top T20 scores ever, ranked and explained

Why It Survived

Record history, key numbers and format breakdown

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