Why Naman Dhir's 173 In Punjab T20 League Won't Be Counted In Official Records

Naman Dhir smashed 173 in Sher-E-Punjab tournament [Source: X]

Naman Dhir has been in the form of his life, and the explosive batter has certainly stamped his authority and has knocked on the BCCI selectors’ doors for a place in the Indian T20I team. The right-handed batter has lit the ongoing Shere-E-Punjab T20 league with his outstanding batting, and on Tuesday, he arguably played the innings of his life.

Playing for Amritsar Soormas, Naman Dhir blew away the opposition in the afternoon match, as the team scored 279/7, and Dhir alone smashed a record-breaking 173 off just 64 deliveries.

Naman Dhir goes berserk to smash 173 in Sher-E-Punjab

The wicket was flat, and Naman Dhir grabbed the opportunity with both hands as he tormented the opposition bowlers with his aggressive batting.

He opened the batting for his side, and while the Soormas lost an early wicket, the right-handed batter looked unfazed as he struck 16 fours and 12 sixes, and had a strike rate of 270.31.

Out of all the 12 sixes, almost every big hit was clean, as the bowlers tried all permutations and combinations but couldn’t dismiss him. He batted for 19.4 overs and was finally sent back after the batter registered a magnificent 173, missing out on a chance to score 176, which would have taken him past Chris Gayle.

Why Naman Dhir's 173 won't be counted in official records?

By statistics, Dhir smashed the second-highest individual score in T20 history (173), only behind Chris Gayle’s 175, which he attained against Pune Warriors India in IPL 2013.

However, despite putting in all the effort and scoring big, the stats won’t be counted in official T20 record books.

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According to the ICC rules, a domestic or franchise T20 tournament can only be granted official List A T20 status if it is hosted or organized by an ICC Full Member country (in this case, India). However, the ICC only recognises the SMAT and IPL as official T20 tournaments organised by the BCCI, and other T20 competitions don’t fall under official T20 records.

Hence, any historic performances in such tournaments, like Shere-E-Punjab, any hat-trick, or someone breaking Chris Gayle’s statistics, won’t be counted in the official T20 records.

Naman Dhir makes strong statement as he knocks on selectors' doors

The ongoing Sher-E-Punjab T20 tournament has witnessed some outstanding performances, and Naman Dhir has been one of the shining lights as he continues to dazzle on the big stage.

With a stellar 173 on Tuesday, Dhir now stands second in the run-getters tally in the tournament. The Mumbai Indians batter has played 6 matches and has accumulated 430 runs, with a strike rate of 218.27.

Only Prabhsimran Singh has scored more runs than him in the tournament, and this has helped Dhir put his name forward for India’s T20I selection.

The explosive batter was one of Mumbai’s best players in the IPL 2026, and he continued his domination in the Sher-E-Punjab league, as he has certainly become one of the front-runners to get selected in the T20I team.

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