David Warner Overtakes Virat Kohli To Script Massive T20 Feat After Historic BBL Century

Sydney Thunder captain David Warner slammed his second century of the ongoing Big Bash League (BBL) season on Friday. The former Australia batter scored an unbeaten 110 off 65 balls against the Sydney Sixers at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG). While the veteran's knock was in a losing cause, Warner managed to register a huge T20 feat with his exploits. This was Warner's 10th century in T20 cricket, taking him to third in the list of batters with the most tons in the format.

Prior to the clash, Warner was tied with India great Virat Kohli and South Africa's Rilee Rossouw on nine centuries each. He now trails behind West Indies great Chris Gayle and Pakistan batter Babar Azam.

Gayle finished his career with 22 tons in T20 cricket, while Babar is currently second with 11 scores of 100 or more. Babar, still only 31, has a realistic chance of breaking Gayle's record in the coming years.

Meanwhile, Warner scored an unbeaten 130 during the match against the Hobart Hurricanes earlier this month. Just like today, the Thunder went on to lose that game despite the veteran's one-man show.

On Friday, Warner's knock was bettered by his former Australia teammate Steve Smith, who bludgeoned his way to a 42-ball 100, slamming nine sixes and five fours.

With the Sixers chasing 190 for the win in the 'Sydney Smash', Smith added 141 for the opening stand with Babar, who scored 47 off 39 during their partnership.

Despite a flurry of wickets, the Sixers managed to achieve the target with 16 balls to spare. The win boosted the Sixers' chances of making it to the BBL playoffs.

Smith now has the most number of tons in the history of BBL (4), one more than David Warner and Ben McDermott.

"It was a nice wicket. Knew we had to go hard from the outset. Davey played a beautiful knock. We got off to a really good start with Babar. I thought he played really nicely and set the foundation and we went on from there. At the 10-over mark, Moises and Shippy said, 'Take the Surge now,' and I said, 'Give us one over, I want to target the short boundary.' I reckon I can get 30 off it and I think we took 32 in the end. It was a good Surge," Smith said after the match.

Topics mentioned in this article

Sydney Thunder SYS David Warner Virat Kohli Chris Gayle Babar Azam Steve Smith Cricket