West Indies all-rounder Romario Shepherd entered his name in the history books on Thursday (February 26) by becoming the first No. 9 batter in the world to score a half-century in an ICC Men’s T20 World Cup match. The 31-year-old cricketer from Guyana walked out to bat at No. 9 for the West Indies in their second Super 8s match of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 on Thursday in Ahmedabad against South Africa and played a knock of 52 runs from 37 balls.
During his stay at the crease, he hammered 3 fours and 4 sixes for the Men in Maroon and added 89 runs from 57 balls for the eighth wicket with Jason Holder (49 from 31 balls) to take West Indies’ total to 176/8 in 20 overs.
Shepherd reached the 50-run mark by hitting Corbin Bosch for a four on the last ball of the West Indies innings at Narendra Modi Stadium.
Before the ongoing match, the record of the highest score by a No. 9 batter in a T20 World Cup match was in the name of Afghanistan’s wicketkeeper-batter Shafiqullah. Shafiqullah played a knock of 35 unbeaten runs from 20 balls against England in the 2016 T20 World Cup match played at Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi on March 23, 2016.
