Fastest century in T20: Records, Context, and Tactics

Lasting legacies in T20 cricket are written in sprints. A century is impressive in any format; in a 120-ball innings, it is audacious. The fastest century in T20 cricket sits at the knife edge of power, precision, and near-perfect risk management. It is not a fluke. It is the end product of a plan executed with ruthless clarity, backed by repeatable skills and the right conditions. This page brings the records together with context that matters: all T20s, T20 internationals, T20 World Cup, IPL, league-wise marks, and women’s milestones. It also explains the method behind the madness—how players manipulate fields, bowling types, and venues to compress a hundred into almost no time at all.

Quick answers at a glance

• Fastest century in all T20 cricket: Chris Gayle, 30 balls (IPL; RCB vs Pune Warriors; Bengaluru). A once-in-a-generation exhibition of leverage and bat speed.
• Fastest T20I century: Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton, 33 balls (Namibia vs Nepal; Kirtipur). A modern Associate-cricket landmark at altitude.
• Fastest century in T20 World Cup history: Chris Gayle, 47 balls (vs England; Wankhede). Brutal, clinical, inevitable.
• Fastest IPL century: Chris Gayle, 30 balls (RCB vs Pune Warriors; Bengaluru). The match that bent the format.

Method and definitions: what “fastest” means here

• Metric: “Fastest” is measured by balls faced to reach 100, not minutes batted.
• Scope: “All T20” includes every officially recognized T20 match—international and domestic leagues/tournaments.
• Split categories: All T20, T20I only, T20 World Cup, league-specific (IPL, PSL, BBL, CPL, BPL, SA20, ILT20, T20 Blast), and women’s T20/Women’s T20I.
• Qualification: Only recognized T20 fixtures (not exhibition or unofficial friendlies). For leagues, the best-available official archives are used.

Fastest T20 century (all T20s)

Record: Chris Gayle, 30 balls (Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Pune Warriors; M. Chinnaswamy Stadium)

An innings that keeps coaches up at night. Gayle’s 175* is the canonical T20 earthquake—boundary riders reduced to spectators, bowlers rendered into pace-on feeders or slow, wide supplicants, captains stuck between five bad options. The technical detail that gets lost in the montage is the control he exerted over lengths. Anything in the slot on either full or back-of-a-length trajectories disappeared—front leg cleared, base stable, hands through the ball. Short boundaries amplified marginal wins, but Gayle’s repeatability over segments—Powerplay to post-10—was the decisive factor. He didn’t “get on a roll”; he held dictate over the roll.

Why that day, that ground, that attack

• Venue vector: Bengaluru is a batting paradise—true pace, fast outfield, altitude-influenced carry, and square boundaries that felt within touch for someone with Gayle’s arc. Even mishits cleared.
• Match situation: Batting first removed some chase anxiety and unlocked pure aggression from ball one. The Warriors’ attack, searching for a way to survive the new ball, overpitched and erred short.
• Match-ups: Left-hand power against right-arm pace angled across; legspin without substantial ring protection; and slower balls pulling into his arc rather than dying at the pitch.

The innings’ hidden lessons

• Power is nothing without base. Gayle’s feet pattern is the tell: anchor and explode, not lunge and hope. He hits with a stable head and well-timed weight transfer.
• Selection matters. Teams get seduced by “pace off” versus Gayle. If it’s not seriously deceptive or landing wide of his hitting zone, it simply becomes pace in disguise.
• Over management: Gayle took ownership of overs, not just balls. The sixth over and the overs just after the time-out were launched pads. He chose the moments to go +18 and accepted the odd +8 if a bowler nailed two yorkers.

Fastest T20I century

Record: Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton, 33 balls (Namibia vs Nepal; Kirtipur)

This is the modern Associate-scene masterclass—intent from the first look, balance on the move, and fearless straight hitting at a ground where the ball flies. Kirtipur sits at altitude and can be a rocket pad for clean hitters. Loftie-Eaton’s genius was the simplicity of his method: pick a channel, hit through it repeatedly, trust the bounce. No slogging across the line; everything dispatched in arcs that coaches label “repeatable power.” The result re-wrote the T20I book.

Key T20I pace-setters to know

• Kushal Malla: 34-ball T20I hundred for Nepal in an officially recognized international. That landmark pushed the frontier closer to the low-30s before Loftie-Eaton broke the tape.
• The 35-ball club: David Miller, Rohit Sharma, and Sudesh Wickramasekara all hit T20I hundreds off 35 balls. Different eras, different contexts, identical ruthlessness.

What separates fast T20I hundreds from league hundreds

• Bowling variety: International sides, even Associates, often field more varied types (left-arm orthodox, legspin, hit-the-deck pace) or strong top-two bowlers, making consecutive overs of carnage rarer. But when conditions and matchup align, elite hitters cash in quicker than leagues expect.
• Fielding standards: International fielding tends to be sharper, shaving off boundaries that domestic leagues sometimes concede. Beating this means elite placement and launch angles, not just raw muscle.
• Psychology: A player cresting toward a landmark in an international shirt tends to experience more pressure. The hitters who thrive are those who can gate that noise and play the next ball.

Fastest century in T20 World Cup history

Record: Chris Gayle, 47 balls (vs England; Wankhede)

The art of a World Cup hundred in T20 is different from league turbo-charges. Nervy energy, swing with the new ball, dew later on, and fielders who make diving stops you don’t see every weekend. Gayle’s Wankhede masterpiece cut through all that. Early on, he respected lengths that cramped him; once he felt rhythm, he went into the stance of inevitability—deep in the crease, head still, wrists roll the heavy bat through the seam. England’s seamers learned the hard way that even wide yorkers give up arcs if repeated.

Why this one matters in a World Cup context

• Pressure cooker: Group stages can end careers and make others. A 47-ball ton in a marquee global event is as statement as it gets.
• Opponent quality: Against a full-strength, pace-rich attack, raw hitting alone isn’t enough. Gayle solved the puzzle: attack the ball, not the bowler’s aura; force them straighter or wider than they want; then punish the adjustment.

Fastest century in IPL

Record: Chris Gayle, 30 balls (also the fastest in all T20 cricket)

The IPL exists where talent density is at its highest. That makes Gayle’s 30-ball century even more absurd. The chasers behind him are worth honoring too because they show different pathways to sub-40-ball hundreds.

IPL’s elite pace-setters (by balls to 100)

• Chris Gayle – 30 balls (RCB vs Pune; Bengaluru). Sheer force; the template.
• Yusuf Pathan – 37 balls (RR vs MI; Mumbai). A chase that turned into a sprint; perfect straight hitting off seam and spin.
• David Miller – 38 balls (KXIP vs RCB; Mohali). The “Killer Miller” manifesto; clean hitting on a true pitch.

What made the second and third fastest IPL hundreds possible

• Yusuf Pathan’s blitz was a blueprint for chasing big with controlled chaos. He attacked length balls over the bowler’s head and trusted his range against spin when fielders were split.
• David Miller’s landmark inning leaned on patience in the middle four overs, then a calculated assault on specific bowlers. This is often the modern IPL way: save a gear for overs 15–18 and spike the run rate over a 12-ball window.

How to score a 30–40 ball hundred: tactics, sequencing, and conditions

A fast hundred is a systems problem. The batter must solve for angle, pace, line, field, and risk tolerance inside eighty or so seconds of total reaction time. The greats build it in banks of overs, not shot-by-shot roulette.

The sequencing model

• Powerplay sprint: Target at least two overs for +15. Identify a pace-on over to go down the ground and a spinner/variation over to go square. Do not waste the free hits offered by early nerves.
• Overs 7–10 consolidation: Keep the strike rate above 150 with low-risk boundary options—back-cut off pace-on, pick-up over midwicket to slower ball, lofted drive if mid-off is up. Singles matter; they hide the dot-ball tax.
• Overs 11–15 leverage: Bowlers look for short-of-a-length into the pitch. Pre-meditate once an over, not thrice. One risk shot per six balls is enough if it is into your hitting arc.
• Overs 16–18 detonation: Choose a match-up. If the yorker specialist misses by an inch, your bat speed must be ready. This is when elite hitters go full-commit.

Match-up theory in plain English

• Left-hand vs leg-spin: If the leggie can’t land the googly length, you open the arc from cow corner to long-off. If he can, use the crease to hit through point/back cover.
• Right-hand vs left-arm orthodox: If the ball isn’t turning, loft through extra cover or midwicket to force long-on back; then milk the single.
• Pace-off and knuckle balls: Either get under it with a long base or wait deep and hit the square cut. Half-commitments die at long-off.

Venues and micro-conditions that create record windows

• High-altitude venues and small squares: Kirtipur, Bengaluru, Sharjah—miss-hits behave like good hits.
• Fresh white balls and fast outfields: Inside edge races away; bowlers overcorrect; lengths drift into the slot.
• Dew factor: In the second innings, yorkers become lottery tickets for bowlers. The ball is hard to grip, slower balls get predictable, and miscues slide for four.

Psychology of a sprint to three figures

• The milestone trap: The switch from 90 to 100 ruins many attempts. The cool heads treat 100 as just another boundary. The scoreboard is background.
• Risk calibration: The best innings include two or three very high-risk shots. The secret is choosing when. Usually, it’s to break a bowler’s confidence at the start of an over.

League-wise fastest T20 hundreds

Not every league updates quickly, and some records are buried in domestic archives. These are the established benchmarks recognized by league or widely corroborated scorecards. Ball counts are provided where they are unequivocally recorded.

• IPL: Chris Gayle, 30 balls (RCB vs Pune Warriors; Bengaluru).
• PSL: Usman Khan, 36 balls (Multan Sultans). A straight-hitting masterclass on a belting surface, taking down pace with minimal risk.
• BBL: Craig Simmons, 39 balls (Perth Scorchers). Old-school see-ball, hit-ball—front-foot dominance against pace.
• CPL: Andre Russell, 40 balls (Jamaica Tallawahs). A chase transform from improbable to inevitable; the cleanest straight hitting in Caribbean franchise cricket.
• T20 Blast (England): Andrew Symonds, 34 balls (Kent). A pioneer’s hundred—down the ground force allied with pick-up range over midwicket.
• BPL: Chris Gayle holds the fastest mark, a sub-50-ball ton for Rangpur Riders, achieved on an outfield that punished any error in length.
• SA20: Heinrich Klaasen owns the competition’s top pace to a hundred, in the low-40s by balls, built on spinners bullied into the sightscreen and length balls flattened through cover.
• ILT20: The benchmark sits in the low-40s by balls, authored by a high-leverage finisher on flat desert decks where pace-on evaporates and fuller lengths are fatal.

Note on league records: League statisticians sometimes revise or clarify ball counts when historic scorecards are reconciled. Where a precise ball count is unambiguous and widely documented, it is listed. Where archival ambiguity exists, the recognized holder is stated with a qualitative descriptor of pace.

Women’s fastest T20 centuries

All women’s T20 (all competitions)

Sophie Devine produced a 36-ball century in New Zealand’s Super Smash, a demonstration of modern women’s power-hitting mechanics: stable base, clean vertical bat path, and repeated launch down the ground. The innings bent conventional boundary maps for women’s cricket and redefined what “par” looks like on fast decks.

Women’s T20I

Deandra Dottin remains the pace-setter with a 38-ball T20I century. That knock fused raw athleticism with superb back-foot balance, pounding seamers over long-on and forcing captains to post boundary riders they didn’t have to spare. It felt like a turning of the page for the women’s T20 game—permission granted to go harder, sooner.

Why these women’s records matter for the wider conversation

• Technique over torque: The best women’s fast hundreds are built on base and motion efficiency. The bat stays long through contact, hips clear late, and the head is still. The result: more consistent carry, not just the odd outlier hit.
• Field maps have changed: Teams now defend the straight fence earlier, pulling a fielder from deep square. That opens point and extra cover—if you can nail the inside-out loft, your boundary portfolio doubles.

T20I fastest hundreds: selected reference list

• Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton – 33 balls (Namibia vs Nepal; Kirtipur)
• Kushal Malla – 34 balls (Nepal; officially recognized T20I)
• David Miller – 35 balls (South Africa)
• Rohit Sharma – 35 balls (India)
• Sudesh Wickramasekara – 35 balls (Czech Republic)

These names tell the story of T20I’s democratization. The format empowers Associates and big nations alike. When conditions align and a hitter finds rhythm, the ball doesn’t care about the badge on the chest.

Anatomy of a record: deep dives into iconic quick hundreds

Chris Gayle’s 30-ball IPL hundred

• Starting pattern: Wait for width, then expand the hitting arc. Gayle seldom throws at leg-stump length early; he wants that line outside off to drag into cow corner or blast over long-off.
• Bowler response: They tried slower bouncers and wide yorkers. The bouncer must be a surprise; repeat it and Gayle camps deep to carve square. The wide yorker must be inch-perfect; miss by one and he levers through extra cover.
• Sixes profile: Most sixes were not just long; they were flat. That tells you bat speed was extreme, and contact came in front of the pad. Flat sixes compress bowler reaction time—fielders enter hope mode.

Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton’s 33-ball T20I hundred

• Venue physics: Kirtipur’s air is thin. The ball goes. But you still need to hit the middle, otherwise mishits die at long-on. Loftie-Eaton’s middle rate was high; the bat face stayed square, and the wrists were loose at contact.
• Over targeting: In Associates cricket, you often get one inexperienced over per Powerplay. He isolated it and cashed in with three clean swings. Then he protected the rest of the Powerplay without getting greedy.

Andre Russell’s 40-ball CPL hundred

• Mindset: Russell rarely “seeks” singles early. Instead, he imposes. He dares captains to find a plan that doesn’t involve bowling into his strong zones. Once the field scattered, he pulled out the ground-ball single with ease—pressure valve control at elite level.
• Bowler pain point: Into-the-pitch lengths that work at other Caribbean venues sat up just enough. Russell’s bat path eats that length for breakfast.

Craig Simmons’ 39-ball BBL hundred

• Classic Australian deck, vintage technique: Simmons trusted the bounce, got forward hard, and hit through the line. Bowlers tried to shorten up; he rocked back and went square, then forced them full again. It was a clinic in playing percentages on fast tracks.

Yusuf Pathan’s 37-ball IPL chase surge

• No fear of the field: Pathan’s style was to take long-on, long-off out of the game with straight power. Once the seamers blinked, the legspinner had to fly the ball; that’s when he step-launched over extra cover and broke the innings open.
• The chase effect: Required rate urgency can sharpen decision-making if the hitter knows his zones. Pathan knew.

The data behind fast hundreds: balls, strike rate, and phase scoring

A fast century is a product of phase dominance—how many balls you spend scoring at or above a threshold strike rate in each segment.

Typical patterns in 30–40 ball hundreds

• Powerplay: 30–35 runs off 12 balls if chasing, 40–45 if setting.
• Middle overs: 35–45 runs off 18 balls—littered with high-percentage boundary options (inside-out lofts, pick-up pulls, back-foot punches).
• Death overs: 25–35 runs off 10 balls—missed yorkers punished, pace-off read early, one premeditated scoop or ramp per over.

Common statistical signatures

• Boundary percentage: 70–80 percent of runs in boundaries is common in these knocks.
• Dots: Below 20 percent dot-ball percentage is a predictive indicator of whether a hitter can break the 40-ball barrier.
• Six-to-four ratio: Elite quick hundreds skew six-heavy; anything near 1.5:1 suggests serious launch angle control.

Venue intelligence: where a record is more likely

• Bengaluru: Small square boundaries, skiddy seamers, hard pitch—ideal.
• Mumbai’s Wankhede: True bounce, maritime air that rarely kills carry, dew at night.
• Sharjah: Historically tiny square, low skid; mishits can travel. If the strip isn’t tired, it’s a paradise.
• Kirtipur: Altitude assist. If the strip has pace and even bounce, 30s-to-40s ball hundreds are always on the table.
• Lahore/Rawalpindi: Lightning outfields during league windows, with belting surfaces and straighter boundaries that reward vertical hitters.

Bowling blueprints that fail against a set hitter

• Repeatable pace-off at the same length: The modern hitter picks this early; the result is a pick-up slog over midwicket or a back-cut with little risk.
• Half-volley wide yorkers: Miss by inches and it becomes a free swing; miss the line and the batter’s reach makes it a gift.
• Predictable short balls: Without true pace or top-spinning bouncers, this ball sits up. A flat-bat pull clears in-and-backward-fielders with ease.

Bowling that can slow a record attempt

• Speed variance with line change: One slow, one quick, one slow at different lines in the over. Force the hitter to keep re-calibrating.
• Angles from around the wicket to cramp arc hitters: Especially to left-handers, this can move the sweet spot.
• Early wide yorkers into the pitch, then a surprise pace-on at the base of off stump: The key is disguise through pre-release cues. If a hitter reads the hand, the plan dies.

T20 World Cup context: why 47 balls to a hundred is still a Everest

In global tournaments, you seldom get four overs from a fifth bowler without a plan. Teams study your zones to exhaustion, and lengths are protected by elite fielders who save four runs that domestic leagues surrender. Gayle’s 47-ball World Cup ton came in that environment. The real value of such an innings lies in its contagion; the opposing attack starts to aim rather than bowl, captains burn timeouts searching for miracles, and batting partners benefit from fielders stretched beyond plan.

Comparing leagues: IPL vs PSL vs BBL vs CPL

• IPL: Highest concentration of pace variety and high-IQ spinners. A fast hundred here is an A+ achievement.
• PSL: Uneven but often high-quality pace; when surfaces go flat, sub-40-ball hundreds are alive. Usman Khan’s 36-ball blast shows how straight hitting demolishes length bowling.
• BBL: Bigger Australian grounds test clearing angles; that’s why a 39-ball century stands tall—you must pierce long boundaries, not just nudge over squares.
• CPL: Caribbean decks vary. On the right night, a shot-maker like Russell or Lewis turns length bowlers into target practice—hence a 40-ball marker that resists breaking.
• T20 Blast: English pitches can nibble; overcast and used surfaces add complexity. Andrew Symonds’ 34-ball statement was part audacity, part first-principles ball striking.

The women’s game: power, science, and the new normal

• Training evolution: Women’s domestic systems now feed power development—heavier bat speed work, posterior-chain focus, and bat path optimization.
• Tactical shift: Captains bring long-on and long-off back earlier, conceding singles in exchange for a six-prevention scheme. Devine and Dottin evolved countermeasures: wristy inside-out lofts and late cuts that force fielders to play whack-a-mole.

Fastest 50 and the road to 100: connected records

A 30–40 ball hundred almost always contains a turbo 50. That first half-century often lands inside 18–22 balls. The trick is not to overthink the midpoint. The best exponents treat 60 as the real horizon—get there cleanly, then leverage the weakening of a bowler’s confidence to sprint past three figures.

Most sixes in a T20 hundred: the role of vertical hitting

Fast centuries lean on six-heavy scoring. Gayle’s page-one innings is the apex: a world-class six-to-four ratio, with a range from long-on to deep square and the off-side rocket over long-off when bowlers went wide. This isn’t just gym strength; it’s swing plane and contact point. Vertical hitting that keeps the bat face on the ball a touch longer buys both distance and forgiveness.

Venues that resist quick hundreds

• Slow turners with tack: Used strips in Dhaka or Chennai-like surfaces drain bat speed at contact. Even clean hits stall. You can still make a hundred, but the ball count stretches.
• Very big boundaries with heavy air: Larger Australian or South African venues on heavy nights demand near-perfect contact to clear. That pushes players to play more ground shots, which slows the rate of boundary accumulation.

The margin problem: why 29 balls is possible, but rare

Could someone beat 30 balls? Theoretically, yes. Here’s the arithmetic of a near-perfect attempt:

• First 12 balls: 40–50 runs with three sixes, two fours, and strike rotation.
• Next 12 balls: 40–45 with two big overs against a targeted bowler—likely a fifth bowler or a misfiring seamer.
• Final 6 balls to 100: 15+ with two sixes and a four.

That requires two favorable overs, near-zero dots, and no fielding miracles from the opposition. It can happen. But you need venue, attack, and night all to point the same way.

Tactical playbook for aspiring record-breakers

• Define two scoring arcs you trust: one straight, one square. Don’t chase a third unless the bowler makes you.
• Pre-meditate sparingly: Once an over is plenty unless the bowler telegraphs. Two premeditations in a row get you out.
• Use crease depth: Step back early to turn length into a cut or pull; walk at the ball once to fluster yorker plans.
• Own the first ball: A boundary off the first ball of an over moves fielders and shifts pressure immediately.
• Harvest singles: You are not wasting time; you are buying the right ball later in the over.

Scorecard snapshots: condensed record table

All T20 fastest century

• Chris Gayle — 30 balls (RCB vs Pune Warriors; Bengaluru)

T20I fastest century

• Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton — 33 balls (Namibia vs Nepal; Kirtipur)
• Kushal Malla — 34 balls (Nepal; officially recognized T20I)
• David Miller — 35 balls (South Africa)
• Rohit Sharma — 35 balls (India)
• Sudesh Wickramasekara — 35 balls (Czech Republic)

T20 World Cup fastest century

• Chris Gayle — 47 balls (vs England; Wankhede)

IPL fastest century

• Chris Gayle — 30 balls (RCB vs Pune Warriors; Bengaluru)
• Yusuf Pathan — 37 balls (RR vs MI; Mumbai)
• David Miller — 38 balls (KXIP vs RCB; Mohali)

PSL fastest century

• Usman Khan — 36 balls (Multan Sultans)

BBL fastest century

• Craig Simmons — 39 balls (Perth Scorchers)

CPL fastest century

• Andre Russell — 40 balls (Jamaica Tallawahs)

T20 Blast fastest century

• Andrew Symonds — 34 balls (Kent)

Women’s fastest T20 centuries

• All T20: Sophie Devine — 36 balls (Super Smash; Wellington)
• T20I: Deandra Dottin — 38 balls (West Indies)

How record pages go wrong—and how to read them right

• All T20 vs T20I confusion: Many pages conflate the two. Remember: T20I is international only; all T20 includes leagues and domestic tournaments.
• League recency lag: It’s common for league records to lag behind on aggregator sites. Always trust league and governing body scorecards for the latest confirmation.
• Ball-count disputes: Early-era T20 matches sometimes carry inconsistent ball-by-ball logs. Cross-check with multiple scorecard providers if a number looks off.

Why some leagues keep their fastest century marks longer

• BBL and T20 Blast: Bigger grounds, weather variability, and seam movement on some nights. These slow-scoring environments make sub-40 ball tons rare.
• CPL and PSL: When surfaces go flat, records are vulnerable. When they grip, the mark holds. PSL in particular produces serious pace; flat days give straight hitters a highway.

Coach’s corner: designing an innings for a record attempt without tanking the team

• Team first: The best record innings align with team outcome. Chasing? Don’t gamble early unless the pitch is a road. Setting a target? Explode early only if the surface stays true.
• Strike farming: The non-striker’s job is to push hard for twos and feed the hot hand the strike. Use the last ball of overs to keep the hitter on.
• Field map manipulation: Show a shot early to move a fielder, then use the created gap. One inside-out loft can drag long-off wider and open the straight hit later.

The evolution curve: from pioneer blasts to today’s precision power

• Early T20: Hitting was raw. Bats were heavier without balance science, and power came from muscle, not mechanics.
• Modern T20: Bat design, strength science, biomechanics, and analytics meet. Pre-innings planning includes bowler-by-bowler heat maps, historical length response data, and ball-tracking-informed shot options.
• Outcome: Fewer streaky edges, more controlled elevation, and a new normal where a 35–45 ball hundred no longer feels mythical.

What makes Gayle’s double crown unique

Gayle is the face of two banners at once: fastest century in all T20 and fastest in the T20 World Cup. That’s not an accident. He bridged the sport’s evolution—raw power of the early days and the metronomic control of modern hitters. He turned straight hits into a safety shot, not a risk shot. And he made opponents bowl into his plan. That’s the difference between a freak day and a career of record threats.

What Loftie-Eaton’s mark signals for the next wave

Loftie-Eaton’s 33-ball T20I century on Associate turf tells you where the game is going. Training knowledge is democratized. Bat sensors, ball-tracking, and video analysis aren’t only for the richest boards anymore. When you marry those tools with fearless batting cultures, you get players ready to push the frontier below 33. The next push might come from an Associate batter again—on a night when everything lines up.

Women’s game: the next barrier

With Devine at 36 and Dottin at 38, the women’s frontier is ripe for a sub-35 in a domestic league on a fast outfield. The mechanics are there, the intent is there, and now the schedules provide enough flat pitches to make the attempt plausible.

A note on records maintenance

Record-keeping for T20 is a living process. Governing bodies and leagues update official logs; scorecard providers reconcile data; rare corrections appear. The marks above reflect widely accepted, official counts and head-to-head match details. When in doubt, check the match page from a governing body or league archive, not just a summary list.

Key takeaways

• All T20 fastest century: Chris Gayle, 30 balls.
• T20I fastest century: Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton, 33 balls; with Kushal Malla at 34 and a trio at 35.
• T20 World Cup fastest century: Chris Gayle, 47 balls.
• IPL fastest century: Chris Gayle, 30 balls; Yusuf Pathan and David Miller next in line.
• League benchmarks: Usman Khan (PSL), Craig Simmons (BBL), Andre Russell (CPL), Andrew Symonds (T20 Blast), with Gayle, Klaasen, and others as league flag-bearers elsewhere.
• Women’s benchmarks: Sophie Devine’s 36-ball all-T20 mark and Deandra Dottin’s 38-ball T20I lead.

Closing perspective

Fastest century in T20 is the sport’s rawest thrill, but it’s also a lens into how the game truly works. Strip the crowd noise away and what you see is a series of solved problems: base, balance, angle, length, field, phase. The batter who can solve them in bunches ends up sprinting to three figures while others are still taking guard. Gayle framed the feat. Loftie-Eaton modernized it. The next chapter will be written by someone who uses the same methods, with better information and perhaps a slightly shorter boundary. The frontier is close enough to touch.