Smashing centuries: All-time fastest hundreds in T20 cricket
The Twenty20 format demands aggression with the bat and the runs have to come no matter what. The players rarely drop out of intent once they get set at the crease. Few players go at the opposition bowling from the very first ball and end up getting a quick-fire fifty or hundred. Andrew Symonds held the record for the fastest century in the T20 format for nearly nine years.
In 2004, while playing the English T20 Cup, Symonds scored a 34-ball ton for Kent against Middlesex. It was only the 2nd century in T20 history after Ian Harvey scored one earlier in 2003. Symonds hit 16 fours and 3 maximums on his way to a century which came in just 37 minutes. He ended up scoring 112 runs from 43 balls in a revised chase of the 157-run target in 18 overs.
Chris Gayle broke the record in the 2013 IPL where he got a hundred in just 30 balls while playing for Royal Challengers Bangalore against Pune Warriors India. Gayle smashed boundaries all over the Chinnaswamy Stadium and went on to finish with an unbeaten 175 which is till date, the highest score in T20 history.
Rishabh Pant came close to Gayle’s record during the 2017-18 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. Playing for his home state Delhi, the left-hander smashed an unbeaten 116 from only 38 balls during their 10-wicket win against Himachal Pradesh. Pant got a ton in just 32 balls which stand as the 2nd fastest to the format. Rishabh recorded the fastest T20 hundred by an Indian with this effort breaking the record of Rohit Sharma who smashed a 35-ball hundred only a month before him.
Rohit brought up his century in 35 balls during a T20I against Sri Lanka while leading the team. Rohit, who was batting on 73 off 30 balls, hit four consecutive sixes and a boundary in the next five balls. This helped Rohit to level the record for fastest T20I hundred which was created by David Miller a few months earlier. The duo still holds the record along with Sudesh Wickramasekara of the Czech Republic which was achieved last year.
(Stats as on December 21, 2020)
