Australian veteran Michael Klinger scores 8th T20 ton, now second behind Chris Gayle in list of most centuries

Veteran Australian opener Michael Klinger has moved to the second spot in the list of most centuries scored in T20 cricket by a batsman after he scored his eighth ton in the ongoing T20 Blast competition. Playing for Gloucestershire, Klinger smashed 102* off 65 balls to guide his team to a T20 Blast quarter-final berth with a five-run win over Kent on Thursday.

The 39-year old is set to call time on his 21-year career at the end of England’s T20 tournament. This was his eighth T20 century and he is only behind swashbuckling West Indies opener Chris Gayle who has 21 tons against his name. Aaron Finch, David Warner, Luke Wright and Brendon McCullum have seven, followed by Rohit Sharma who has six.

“I didn’t even know I got 100 because the main scoreboard had 91,” Klinger was quoted as saying by ICC. “It probably took a bit of pressure off not even knowing I was close, to be honest.

The journeyman cricketer has represented Australia in 3 T20 internationals, with a highest score of 62. A veteran of 182 first-class matches, Klinger has scored more than 11,000 runs in the longest format. He has also played 177 List A matches and total of 204 T20 matches in leagues in Australia and England. He was bought by the now defunct franchise Kochi Tuskers Kerala in the Indian Premier League.