Faf du Plessis scripts multiple records with 3rd MLC century
What's the story
Faf du Plessis, the South African cricketing stalwart, has added another feather to his cap by becoming the first player in Major League Cricket (MLC) history to score three centuries. The milestone came during a match against MI New York, where he led Texas Super Kings with a match-winning 103* off just 53 balls. His innings was laced with five boundaries and nine sixes at an impressive strike rate of nearly 200.
Match details
Du Plessis stars in Texas Super Kings's commanding win
Du Plessis opened the batting with Smit Patel but lost his partner early. He then forged vital partnerships with Saiteja Mukkamalla and Marcus Stoinis, scoring 25 each. His explosive knock of 103 not out off just 53 deliveries helped Texas Super Kings post a mammoth total of 223 for four in their allotted overs. Donovan Ferreira also contributed with a quickfire half-century as they set a daunting target for MI New York.
Record achievement
Captain with the most T20 tons
With his latest century, du Plessis has now equaled Rohit Sharma in terms of the most T20 hundreds. Both players have eight tons to their name. Chris Gayle leads the chart with 22 centuries, followed by Babar Azam (11) and Virat Kohli (9). Each of du Plessis's eight T20 tons have come as a captain (200 innings). No other designated skipper has more hundreds in the format. Du Plessis broke the tie with Babar and Michael Klinger (7 each).
Information
First player to accomplish this milestone
The former South African skipper also became the first batter to score multiple T20 hundreds after turning 40. The 40-year-old's previous hundred came against San Francisco Unicorns around 10 days back in the ongoing MLC 2025.
Career
Here are his T20 numbers
With his knock against MI New York, du Plessis has raced to 11,755 runs in T20 cricket at 32.74. In 420 T20s, he has a strike rate of 136.87 (8 tons and 81 fifties). As many as 1,528 of those runs have come for South Africa in T20Is.