Shane Watson becomes first Australian, 10th overall to hit centuries in all three formats

Watson achieved the feat in his 52nd T20I match and joined the likes of modern batting greats Chris Gayle, Brendon McCullum, Mahela Jayawardene.

New Delhi: All-rounder Shane Watson on Sunday became the first Australian to hit centuries in all three formats of the game. Leading the side, the stand-in skipper played a 71-ball 124-run knock in a losing cause against India at Sydney Cricket Ground.

Watson, who has retired from both the Tests and One-Day International forms of cricket, achieved the feat in his 52nd T20I match and joined the likes of modern batting greats Chris Gayle of West Indies, Brendon McCullum of New Zealand and Mahela Jayawardene of Sri Lanka.

Keeping his chances of playing in the 2016 ICC World T20 in March-April in India alive, Watson played one of his best innings today. The right-handed batsman toyed with Indian attack to register his previous score in T20Is, and also ended a run of 16 innings without a 50-plus score.

The 34-year-old Queensland cricketer is the 10th player in the history to achieve this rare feat. Besides Gayle, McCullum and Jayawardene, Indians Suresh Raina and Rohti Sharma, another Sri Lankan Tillakaratne Dilshan, another Kiwi Martin Guptill, South Africa's Faf du Plessis and Pakistan's Ahmed Shehzad have also hit centuries in all formats.

Watson's 124 also became the highest score by a captain in T20Is, ahead of du Plessis' 119. In between, Dilshan is the only other captain to score a T20I century.

Watson has four and nine hundreds in Test and ODI respectively.