Ahmed Shehzad joins Kohli and Smith in T20 centurions club

KARACHI: Pakistan cricket team’s opening batsman Ahmed Shahzad, on Tuesday, joined the ranks of Virat Kohli and Dwayne Smith in the list of players with the most T20 centuries.

Ahmed —who is playing for Central Punjab’s team in the ongoing National T20 Cup — scored an unbeaten 111 off 63 balls against Northern at Faisalabad’s Iqbal Stadium, smashing three sixes and stroking 13 shots to the boundary line.

This was Ahmed’s fifth T20 century, making him the first Pakistani batsman to score five centuries in the T20 career. He is also the third Asian batsman to do so after India’s Virat Kohli (5) and Rohit Sharma (6).

The list is headed by West Indian Chris Gayle who has a mammoth 22 T20 centuries to his credit.

The 27-year old batsman has mostly remained under criticism. He remained out of the national team for few months before being brought back for T20Is against Sri Lanka earlier this month. However, he couldn’t impress with his batting skills in his comeback series.

Ahmed is also Pakistan’s only batsman to score a century in each of the three formats of international cricket.