Fastest century in t20: Overall, T20I, IPL & League Records

There’s a particular electricity that builds when a batter reaches fifty inside the powerplay and refuses to take their foot off the gas. The stadium starts humming, the bowlers’ conferences multiply, and suddenly every ball feels like a coin flip between an incredible boundary and a long walk back. That’s the living edge of T20 batting. And the sharpest point on that edge is the fastest century in T20 cricket.

This guide brings clarity without losing the excitement. It separates T20 (all T20 cricket), T20I (international), and league-specific records like IPL and PSL. It narrows the lens further by country, adds context only a close observer can see from the boundary line, and keeps everything accurate to the most recent changes. No confusion between formats. No burying the lead. Just the fastest T20 hundreds, why they happened, and how to read them as more than just numbers.

What “fastest century in T20” means

• It’s the fewest balls taken to reach 100.
• It’s tracked separately for:
  • All T20 cricket (any official T20 match: international or domestic league).
  • T20I (full international status).
  • Leagues (IPL, PSL, BBL, CPL, Vitality Blast, SA20, and others).
• Ties are common; multiple players may share a record at the same number of balls.
• We count balls faced at the moment the player hits 100, not the final strike rate or the eventual score.

Key headline records at a glance

• Fastest century in T20 (overall): Chris Gayle, 30 balls, for a blistering hundred that turned into a 175* masterclass. Venue known for small boundaries, a true flat-track evening, and a bowling attack that never found an answer.
• Fastest century in T20I: Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton, 33 balls, smashing past a cluster of 35-ball marks.
• Fastest century in IPL: Chris Gayle, 30 balls, matching the overall record on a night that redefined what an IPL innings could look like.
• Fastest century in PSL: Usman Khan, 36 balls, a violent, controlled sprint that set the league’s tone for what an opener can do in the powerplay and just beyond.
• Fastest century in BBL: Craig Simmons, 39 balls, a classic Western Australian power-hitting show with the breeze behind him and the rope in play.
• Fastest century in CPL: Andre Russell, 40 balls, in one of the format’s great all-round nights, a chase that lived on raw force and fearless access to the leg-side boundary.
• Fastest century in the Vitality Blast (England): Andrew Symonds, 34 balls, a benchmark from the early days of the format that still reads like it’s from a different planet.
• Fastest century in SA20: The competition’s current standard sits in the low-forties ballpark, a product of explosive top-order intent and lightning outfields.

Fastest century in T20 (all T20s)

The fastest T20 hundred is Chris Gayle’s 30-ball storm. It arrived in the IPL, but this is the universal record. What made it so outrageous wasn’t just the pace of the hundred. It was the continuation. The innings ballooned into one of the most absurd scorecards T20 has ever printed: 175*, a power map of the leg side, deep midwicket, and straight hits that felt angelically simple. Gayle’s heavy willow, an uncluttered base, and a stable head lined everything up behind the ball; the power didn’t feel forced, the bat didn’t feel heavy, and nothing about the shot-making looked improvised. He reached fifty in a hurry, but the stretch from 50 to 100 was where the record truly bent. Once he read the pace and length patterns, he sat in his hitting zones and dared the opposition to step out of them. They didn’t. They couldn’t.

Fastest T20 hundreds overall are a cocktail of conditions, match-ups, and very specific temperament. Bigger bats don’t hurt, of course, but the anatomy of a 30- to 35-ball hundred goes deeper:

• Powerplay platform: At least 40 before the first six overs end, often closer to 60.
• A partner who turns strike: No dot-ball pressure; no need to force big shots against the wrong bowler.
• One matchup to attack relentlessly: A particular pace length, a particular spinner’s speed or trajectory, a boundary to target with minimal risk.
• Faith in the straight hit: Mis-hits for four don’t stall the innings; clean hits sail deep.
• Outfield and altitude: Fast field and/or thin air exaggerate value per contact.
• No overthinking: The best of these hundreds feel inevitable because the batter doesn’t switch out of the winning plan.

A short, verified list of the very fastest all-format T20 centuries

• Chris Gayle — 30 balls — IPL, Bengaluru — the global standard.
• Andrew Symonds — 34 balls — English T20 Cup, a pre-Blast era scorcher that still stands up anywhere.
• Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton — 33 balls — T20I, Kirtipur — the international benchmark.
• Kushal Malla — 34 balls — T20I, an Asian showpiece that moved the T20I ceiling just before Loftie-Eaton.
• David Miller — 35 balls — T20I — the original “out of nowhere” international sprint, cold-blooded finishing in national colours.
• Rohit Sharma — 35 balls — T20I — high backlift, crisp levers, and a night where every pickup cleared.
• Sudesh Wickramasekara — 35 balls — T20I — the Associate surge that foreshadowed the format’s expanding frontier.

Note: The above isn’t a full list of all 30s-and-30-something ball hundreds in T20 cricket. Dozens of league and domestic nights have produced low-40s to mid-30s ball hundreds. The names above are included because they anchor globally accepted record lines and are verifiable across authoritative scorecards.

Fastest century in T20I

The T20I record is Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton’s 33-ball hundred for Namibia against Nepal at Kirtipur. It was a perfect illustration of how an aggressive modern top-order player dismantles an attack on a day when he stays ahead of the seam, the angles, and the field.

Why this T20I record mattered

• It broke a long-held bottleneck at 35 balls.
• It came on a ground known for high-scoring volatility. Once a batter is in, the rope is ridiculously accessible.
• It validated a pattern: Associate teams with elite white-ball hitters can crash through old ceilings because they attack relentlessly through the middle overs rather than protecting their wicket for the death.

Context for the previous 35-ball watermark

• David Miller hit 100 in 35 balls, cueing the modern finishing template for South Africa: pick your over, kill the game, and don’t look back.
• Rohit Sharma matched the 35, a signature Indian white-ball performance buoyed by rhythmic lofts over extra-cover and pure timing square.
• Sudesh Wickramasekara matched it from the Associate space, proof that the T20I record book is open to anyone with clean bat swing, ambition, and a pitch that lets stroke play breathe.
• Kushal Malla then leaped ahead with a 34-ball T20I hundred for Nepal, only for Loftie-Eaton to drop the mark by one more ball soon after.

Tactical anatomy of a T20I fastest century

• Early trigger: Assault from ball one is critical. No settling time. First five balls must inform which slot or trajectory will feed maximum return.
• Repetition: Once a slot is found, elite hitters repeat picks and shapes rather than invent new shots.
• The over selection: It is almost always one over that explodes the math. A 24- to 30-run over shortens the path to three figures by a power of two.
• Minimal singles: This is anti-normal T20 batting. Strike rotation can come later; the fastest T20I hundreds are about sequencing multiple boundaries per over with minimal interruption.
• Pace vs spin: The record innings typically find one spin matchup to punish. Legspinners who float with long boundaries behind them become targets. Conversely, any repeatable short-of-a-length pace returns a steady harvest toward the leg-side fence.

Fastest century in IPL

IPL speed records live under global spotlights and the gates to data-driven preparation. The fastest IPL hundred is also the fastest T20 hundred anywhere: Gayle’s 30-ball landmark.

The IPL’s identity as a record magnet has always come from its depth: deep rosters of hitter-friendly venues, elite batting talent, and pressure that actually helps some batters climb into a heightened state. Every season produces a couple of nights where somebody threatens the 40-ball bracket, but the Gayle reference remains a distant peak. The best efforts that come close almost always share these parameters:

• Bengaluru or Mumbai day-night tracks at their flattest.
• Smaller square boundaries and skiddy pace-on bowlers.
• A left-right opening pair forcing constant field resets.
• A partner with a fifty strike-rate in the teens or twenties, ensuring uninterrupted strike transfer.

Known quick ones in IPL context

• Chris Gayle — 30 balls — a score that also carried the league’s highest individual total in the same innings.
• Yusuf Pathan — 37 balls — the original IPL sprint that turned a chase into a near-miracle, built on fearless hits over long-on and midwicket.
• David Miller — 38 balls — the “Killer Miller” night, a blitz from the middle order that altered the game in a handful of overs.

These define the IPL’s fastest-century culture: power at the top, but also the ability of a middle-order hitter to flip a chase in minutes.

League-wise fastest T20 centuries

PSL (Pakistan Super League)

• Fastest century: Usman Khan — 36 balls.
• Why it mattered: PSL’s pace attacks and hard new balls aren’t often kind to reckless intent. This hundred fused PSL’s classic strengths—intent in the powerplay, flat bats through the line, and strong wrists—to hit a threshold that felt out of reach for several seasons.
• Conditions that help in PSL: Rawalpindi and Karachi can be lightning when the square is dry. In the north, under lights, anything short sits up. In the south, dew ends the contest early for bowlers who don’t nail the yorker length.

BBL (Big Bash League)

• Fastest century: Craig Simmons — 39 balls.
• Why it mattered: It ratified the BBL’s founding belief in local bruisers who understand Australian grounds. With open skies and pace on the ball, Simmons kept everything straight and midwicket, using the full arc, no premeditation needed. The WACA breeze and trampoline bounce added sixes on contact.
• Conditions that help in BBL: True bounce, square boundaries that tempt, and pace attacks trusting the short ball—exactly the sort of plan a set power hitter feasts on when the top edge flies over the man.

CPL (Caribbean Premier League)

• Fastest century: Andre Russell — 40 balls.
• Why it mattered: A chase-driven detonation against a premium T20 franchise, plus the surreal dimension of Russell picking up a hat-trick on the night. It was a reminder that even in a league full of six-hitters, a true power outlier can change probability with raw bat speed and a leveled stance.
• Conditions that help in CPL: Dry pitches that skid under lights, with wind across the ground. CPL sixes often ride the breeze; good hitters funnel that wind into their natural arc.

Vitality Blast (England T20)

• Fastest century: Andrew Symonds — 34 balls (English T20 Cup vintage that flows into the Blast’s lineage).
• Why it mattered: Back then, it felt like blasphemy. The format was still learning its limits; Symonds tore them down in one evening, showing English grounds that the boundary was not a limit but an invitation. It remains a north star for batters in English conditions.
• Conditions that help in the Blast: High summer evenings, used pitches with little grass, a white ball that stays hard for just long enough, and short straight boundaries at some outgrounds.

SA20 (South Africa)

• Fastest benchmark: Early seasons have already driven the standard into the low-forties ballpark, with top-order imports and home hitters both cashing in on the league’s high-tempo template.
• Why it mattered: SA20 venues combine altitude, quick outfields, and strong batting depth. The format had waited for a competition in South Africa that regularly amplified power hitting; SA20’s curve suggests a sub-40-ball hundred is a matter of opportunity, not possibility.

Country-wise fastest T20 centuries

India

• Fastest T20 century by an Indian (all T20s): Rohit Sharma — 35 balls in T20I. A clean-blooded batting lesson where conventional technique partnered with pure aggression.
• Fastest IPL hundred by an Indian: Yusuf Pathan — 37 balls. A chase that sent commentators scrambling for superlatives and fielders into survival mode. The hitting zones were leg-side dominant, but the key shots were across the line with a high, steady head.

Pakistan

• Fastest T20 century by a Pakistani (all T20s): Usman Khan — 36 balls in PSL. Crisp, stable hitting on a reputation-building night; the wrists did as much work as the shoulders.
• Pakistan’s T20I benchmark: Ahmed Shehzad’s hundred took longer, but it established that Pakistan’s T20 top order would not lack for ceiling, just consistency on demand.

England

• Fastest T20 century by an English batter (all T20s): Liam Livingstone — 42 balls in T20I. A total-commitment method featuring the pick-up slog and high-elbow violence through midwicket and straight. He loads short, keeps the front shoulder closed, and gets exceptional leverage.

Australia

• Fastest T20 century by an Australian (all T20s): Andrew Symonds — 34 balls in England’s T20 competition. A pure demonstration of bat path and intent from one of the earliest great T20 all-rounders, way before most players truly understood how to pace an innings in 20 overs.

South Africa

• Fastest T20 century by a South African (all T20s): David Miller — 35 balls in T20I. The archetype for a finisher’s sprint: see slot, hit slot, refuse to let the bowler off. This innings shifted team tactics around him for seasons afterward.

West Indies

• Fastest T20 century by a West Indian: Chris Gayle — 30 balls. The match that anchored the global record and redefined “impossible” in the league. Evin Lewis and Johnson Charles have produced terrifying tempo, but the gold standard remains a left-hander in full flow with a bat that looked industrial.

Nepal

• Fastest T20 century by a Nepal player: Kushal Malla — 34 balls in T20I. A milestone that wave-surfed through world cricket’s feeds and forced a clean rewrite of Associate batting assumptions. Nepal’s batsmen have since shown a comfortably modern range.

What makes a fastest T20 hundred possible

• Venue math: Rope distances matter, but the real trick is angle. Deep midwicket and long-on are the shortest routes at several grounds with square boundaries stretched. Batters who can hold their base and hit those lines repeatedly win the geometry battle.
• Powerplay physics: Six overs of two fielders out, with bowlers reluctant to go full because of dew or afraid to go short because of bounce. The result is a diet of hittable, knee-high pace-on balls meeting a batter with a preclear plan.
• Modern bats: Marginal gains are everywhere—edge thickness, sweet-spot size, and wood density. Top pros get custom measurements that let bat speed and timing translate to carry without needing perfect contact.
• Matchups: Left-handers vs right-arm over into the wind, offspinners into the arc, legspinners with slight drag through the air; T20 is all about repeating plus matchups.
• Bowling under lights: Sides that bowl too much cross-seam or hit halfway lengths under lights in dewy conditions literally let the batter select their angle. Miss wide yorkers and it’s a drag-fest.
• Fitness and technique: These sprints aren’t slogging. Hips open late, head stays still, forearms transfer. If it looks wild, that’s just the violence of speed meeting the control of technique.

A closer look at three record-shaping knocks

Chris Gayle’s 30-ball hundred, and what the film tells you

• Base: Very still. Head level. Minimal movement before release.
• Hitting arc: Midwicket to long-off, with the backlift shallow and the follow-through full and long.
• Ball reading: He picked length absurdly early. Anything marginally short sat up perfectly at that venue, and he trusted lofted shots over long-on even against marginal mis-hits.
• Field: Captains set square leg and deep midwicket, plus long-on. It didn’t matter. Gayle either went over them or farther toward cow corner than they expected.

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

• Trigger: Short, calm step. No overreach.
• Versus spin: Use of the sweep and slog-sweep into open spaces, with a plan to force the spinner to change pace.
• Versus pace: Strong bottom-hand release to access straight hits, especially down the ground with a flat trajectory that saves fuel against longer boundaries.
• Strike farming: None. He starved the innings of conventional singles at times, preferring damage now over management later.

Andre Russell’s CPL sprint

• Bat speed: A loud blur. His wrists uncork late, and he rarely loses shape even when he’s aiming into the stands.
• Ball choice: The short slot is his friend, but he’s just as brutal on missed yorkers.
• Chase pressure: Some batters settle into caution while chasing; Russell typically runs arithmetic. If he needs 12 per over, his internal calculator sees one 20-run over and two tens. That allows one eccentric block or a perfect leave—not that he took many.

Why “fastest century” in T20 isn’t a trivial record

• It compresses decision-making: Twenty balls is enough for a normal batter to script a 30. A record hundred in 30 to 35 balls means the batter solved speed, angle, and spin in half that time and then kept winning.
• It’s hostile to luck: Luck may get you a couple of edges or a dropped chance. It does not explain back-to-back overs of 20-plus.
• It establishes a ceiling for a team’s risk appetite: Teams plan around what’s possible. When you’ve seen someone hit 100 in the space where most batters are on 40, you adjust your definition of chaseable and par.

T20 vs T20I vs IPL: keep scopes separate

• T20 (overall): Includes everything—internationals, leagues, and domestic T20 matches with official status. Chris Gayle owns the fastest century here with 30 balls.
• T20I: Only internationals. Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton holds the fastest T20I century with 33 balls, leading a pack that includes Kushal Malla at 34 and a trio at 35.
• IPL: Part of overall T20. Chris Gayle’s 30-ball thunderclap at Bengaluru is both the IPL and the global record.

Short comparative table of fastest T20 hundreds by scope

Scope	Record holder	Balls	Notes
Overall T20	Chris Gayle	30	Also produced the highest individual T20 score in the same innings
T20I	Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton	33	Surpassed the longstanding 35-ball watermark
IPL	Chris Gayle	30	Same innings as the overall record
PSL	Usman Khan	36	Powerplay-led onslaught, perfect tempo
BBL	Craig Simmons	39	Classic Australian power hitting, pace-on pitch
CPL	Andre Russell	40	Chase demolition with brutal bat speed
Vitality Blast	Andrew Symonds	34	Early-era landmark that still stands out
SA20	Low-40s benchmark	~41–43	Trend points toward an imminent sub‑40

Note: For SA20, the fastest benchmark is in the low-forties range; the exact ball count is subject to change within and across seasons as new innings arrive.

Filters that matter: how to slice the record

• Batting position:
  • Openers dominate these records; they face the most balls under field restrictions.
  • Middle-order outliers exist (David Miller, Andre Russell) but rely on a turbo window rather than sustained platform.
• Setting vs chasing:
  • Setting totals is friendly to aggression without scoreboard leash. The bowling side still experiments.
  • Chasing outbursts are rarer but not unheard of. Russell’s CPL epic is the template: pick an over, break the game.
• Year of competition:
  • The format’s evolution has pushed down the ball-count trend, but the instruction here is to read only by quality, not calendar. Consider the ecology of the innings: pitch, boundary, dew, and opposition intent.
• League vs international:
  • League bowling attacks can be incredible but are often forced to play matchups without the full power of national-depth resources. International attacks carry more data on the batter but also face unfamiliar matchups and venues.

Inside the dressing room: the pregame plan for a fastest hundred

• Batting talk is specific: two overs to target, two bowlers to milk, two shots to bank. Nothing airy. No quest for a record. The team language is about intent, tempo, and pressure.
• Data picks the seam: Analysts flag the overs where the opposition’s second spinner or fourth seamer usually bowls. Those overs are circled in red ink for elite hitters.
• Gear: The batter will often have two bats ready—one slightly heavier for pace, one balanced for spin. The grip thickness isn’t vanity; it defines bottom-hand engagement and control on the slog-sweep.
• Warm-up: Hit long early, then go to feel. Quality hitters like to finish with pick-up shots rather than full swings; they want touch switched on, not just muscles.

The real scoreboard behind the scoreboard

Boundary percentage and balls-per-boundary matter more than traditional strike rate for these sprints. Over the first 30 balls of a fastest-century innings, batters often clear a boundary every 2.2 to 3.0 balls. That includes a mix of fours and sixes, and the six ratio skews higher when the bowler insists on pace-on lengths.

Phase breakdown often looks like this:

• Balls 1–10: Read, pounce, establish. Outliers reach 30-plus here.
• Balls 11–20: The surge. If the batter is around 35–45 at 10 balls, the hundred is coming fast. Field restrictions relax, but confidence compensates.
• Balls 21–30: Method, not madness. This is where the story either becomes a headline or cools into a mortal half-century. The very best keep repeating their two winning shots and refuse the flat-bat single.

Venues that flatter the pursuit

• Bengaluru: Altitude, short boundaries square, and an outfield like an airport runway. Pace-on lengths are a donation box.
• Rawalpindi: When the square is quick, the ball flies late evening; the par is always a myth.
• WACA/Perth: Pace and bounce can be a rocket for batters who stay on top of the ball.
• Kirtipur: When dry and sunny, later even under lights, the ball travels. If the line falls to the pads, the leg-side fence is a rumour.

How the bowlers try to stop it (and why it often fails)

• The classic panic cocktail: short, wide, slower. Against a set hitter, this feeds two scoring arcs.
• The wide-yorker obsession: Essential weapon, but if it lands as a half-volley or sits a fraction short, the drag-hit over cover is on. Miss by inches, pay by miles.
• Seam-up predictable pace: If one side of the wicket is left open, the batter keeps pulling into it. One timely bouncer can reset the arc, but only if the batter hasn’t already set camp inside the line.

Why certain batters show up again and again on fastest lists

• Open stance, late hands: Allows hitting across lines without losing the face of the bat.
• Balance: The back foot doesn’t fall under the body on the slog, so the head stays tall.
• Repeatable method: Two main hitting options, both drilled so often they feel automatic.
• Calm risk: The best treat risk like a budget, not a dare. They spend it where the return is exponential.

Related records that orbit the fastest hundred

• Fastest fifty in T20: Frequently a leading indicator. Many 30-ball hundreds include a 50 in the teens.
• Most sixes in a T20 innings: This correlates strongly with fastest hundreds; Gayle’s record alliance of sixes and rapid milestones is the blueprint.
• Highest individual T20 score: Occasionally the same night as the fastest hundred. When the pitch is friendly and the batter stays to the end, everything compounds.
• Fastest 150 in T20: A rarer gem. Only a handful of players have hit that second landmark within shooting distance of the last over. The batter must both sprint and last.

A concise reference list for fans and researchers

• Fastest century in T20 (overall): Chris Gayle — 30 balls — IPL, Bengaluru.
• Fastest century in T20I: Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton — 33 balls — Kirtipur.
• Fastest century in IPL: Chris Gayle — 30 balls — same innings as the global record.
• Fastest century in PSL: Usman Khan — 36 balls — Multan’s title-defining tempo.
• Fastest century in BBL: Craig Simmons — 39 balls — Perth power.
• Fastest century in CPL: Andre Russell — 40 balls — chase and carnage.
• Fastest century in Vitality Blast/English T20: Andrew Symonds — 34 balls — an early, enduring landmark.

How records evolve, and what could fall next

• SA20 pressure cooker: As the league matures, the combination of altitude, deep batting, and aggressive matchups makes a sub-40-ball hundred not just plausible but likely as a seasonal expectation rather than a miracle.
• PSL’s upper limit: With the competition’s quick tracks and improving domestic power hitting, the 36-ball mark is under live threat whenever Rawalpindi or Karachi runs hot.
• T20I dynamics: The global calendar brings Associates into more T20Is on better pitches. That environment is fertile for fast hundreds. Expect more entries under 35 from teams that attack from ball one with players groomed in leagues.

Methodology and sources

• Records are based on official scorecards and consistent “balls-to-100” timing.
• When multiple players share a ball count, context and innings details are noted for clarity, but ties stand as ties.
• Authoritative sources: ESPNcricinfo’s scorecards and records databases remain the most reliable reference spine for verification across all scopes and leagues.

Editorial notes on confusion between “T20” and “T20I”

• T20 = all recognized T20 matches. This includes leagues like IPL, PSL, BBL, CPL, the Vitality Blast, SA20, plus international T20Is and recognized domestic T20s.
• T20I = international only. When someone asks for the fastest century in T20 and they actually mean “international,” the answers differ. Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton has the T20I record. Chris Gayle owns the overall T20 and IPL marks.

Why this matters for fans and analysts

• Betting a match: Knowing which venues and lineups favour a sprint to three figures changes live over/under decisions. A hitter on 35 at the end of the powerplay with a fifth bowler coming on is a live bullet.
• Coaching: For hitters, targeting zones and shot-selection discipline is everything. One over of five attempts to innovate new shots can kill the record chase. For bowlers, the answer is repetition under pressure, not novelty without execution.
• History: T20’s roots include innovators like Andrew Symonds and Sanath Jayasuriya showing what could happen if a batter stayed belligerent. The current record-holders are walking that road with better bats and more specific data, but the DNA is the same: commit fully to a plan and punish anything off script.

A final word from the press box

The fastest century in T20 is the sport’s purest adrenaline spike. It erases middling plans, embarrasses half-measures, and reframes what a team thinks is possible inside an innings. Chris Gayle’s 30-ball hurricane lit the beacon for everything that followed. Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton’s 33-ball international stamp proved that the T20I frontier is still moving forward, and not just at the big stadiums. Leagues from Karachi to Perth and Kingston to Taunton have produced their own sprints, each forged by local wind, boundary length, and the stubbornness of a batter who decided that the quickest path to victory was the straightest.

These records are not just milestones. They are instructions to future batters: trust your base, pick your matchup, hold your shape, and keep swinging until the field stops making sense. And then swing again.

Appendix: compact tables for quick reference

Fastest T20 centuries by scope

Scope	Player	Balls	Venue/League context
Overall T20	Chris Gayle	30	IPL, Bengaluru
T20I	Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton	33	Kirtipur, T20I
IPL	Chris Gayle	30	Same as overall
PSL	Usman Khan	36	PSL
BBL	Craig Simmons	39	BBL
CPL	Andre Russell	40	CPL
England (Blast lineage)	Andrew Symonds	34	English T20 competition
SA20	Low-40s benchmark	~41–43	SA20

Country-wise key fastest T20 centuries

Country	Player	Balls	Format
India	Rohit Sharma	35	T20I (fastest by an Indian across all T20)
Pakistan	Usman Khan	36	PSL (fastest by a Pakistani across all T20)
England	Liam Livingstone	42	T20I
Australia	Andrew Symonds	34	English T20 competition
South Africa	David Miller	35	T20I
West Indies	Chris Gayle	30	IPL
Nepal	Kushal Malla	34	T20I

Notes on interpretation

• Balls-to-hundred is the sole metric for inclusion in “fastest” lists.
• Final totals and strike rates can widen context, but they don’t influence the record itself.
• Some leagues and countries will update quickly; records noted here are aligned with the latest widely reported scorecards.

Where to double-check

• ESPNcricinfo match pages and Records section for balls-to-hundred stats.
• Official league sites for IPL, PSL, BBL, CPL, and domestic competitions for confirming venue and matchup details.

This is a living space in cricket’s record book. The next fastest T20 hundred could be sitting two bus rides away on a flat evening when a medium pacer misses his length by a fraction. The ball will arc under lights, the crowd will surge, and thirty-something deliveries later a batter will stare at a scoreboard that says what every kid with a taped tennis ball has dreamt about since the format was born: a hundred, already.