Top Five Fastest Centuries In ODIs By Indian Batsmen

Top 5 Fastest Centuries In ODIs By Indian Batsmen; Scoring a century is always a precious stat to have for an international cricketer in any format of the game. Indeed, a player’s hundred does not always mean that there will be a victory, but his efforts make the opponents sweat.

More importantly, a good game with a memorable century is remembered by the spectators for many years.

This beauty of scoring a century reaches next level when the player manages to enter the century in the record list.

Meanwhile, in this article, we came up with the fastest centuries by Indian players.

Top 5 Fastest Centuries By Indians In ODI Format:

5. Mohammed Azharuddin’s 62-ball Century against New Zealand in Baroda:

The former skipper of the Indian National Cricket Team Mohammed Azharuddin also finds a place in the chart with his stunning century against New Zealand in Baroda. His century came in just 61 balls, which was the fastest for India during those times. The blistering knock came in 1988.

It was a stunning knock, as Azharuddin helped India chase down a massive 282 after losing 5 quick wickets. He was helped by A Sharma, who scored a fifty after coming to bat at number 8.

In the same year, Azharuddin featured in his 300th ODI match against Australia to become the first cricketer to appear in 300 ODI games. Hailing from Hyderabad, Azhar played 334 ODIs and 99 Test matches scoring 9,378 and 6215 runs respectively.

4. Yuvraj Singh’s 61-Ball century Against England In Rajkot:

Rolling the calendar back to 2008, the stylish southpaw of the Indian National Cricket Team showed his devastating skills with the bat against England. The flamboyant batsman whacked England bowlers to all corners of the park to register his fastest century in ODI cricket.

After losing the toss, Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag added 127 for the first wicket, after which Yuvraj Singh slammed an unbeaten 138* from only 78 balls. His century came in 64th ball.

It was the fastest ODI hundred against England, while India’s total beat the previous best against this team – Pakistan’s 353 in Karachi in 2005.

It was also India’s best total at home and second-highest anywhere. England could only reply with 229 and suffered their third heaviest ODI defeat ever. Yuvraj’s 138 was one shy of his career-best.

3. Virat Kohli’s 61-ball Hundred Against Australia At Nagpur In 2013:

Riding on Shane Watson’s 94-ball century, Australia scored 350+ runs on the board to give enough for the bowlers to pull a victory against India in India. However, the young Virat Kohli has got different ideas in his mind, as he cracked a scintillating century in just 61 balls to help India register a massive chase.

After 178-run partnership by the openers, Kohli stepped into the fray in the 30th over. He made his intentions clear from the start and smashed five boundaries off the first three overs he faced. The Kohli-Dhawan combine brought up the fifty partnership in quick time. But Dhawan fell shortly after scoring his century.

Kohli continued taking the bowlers and remained unbeaten to help India cross the line with MS Dhoni hanging with him in the death overs.

2. Virender Sehwag’s 60-ball century against New Zealand At Hamilton in 2009:

Well, when you talk about the term “fast”, straightaway, Virender Sehwag will put his name forward. The flamboyant batsman showed the world how it is to be played at the opening slot and made the youngsters sit in front of screens with his brilliant strokeplay even in Test matches.

The swashbuckling opening batsman smashed 60-ball century against New Zealand in Hamilton to register the fastest century by an Indian in ODI cricket. The special features of the century are that – it is the only century in this chart, which came in overseas.

Batting first in a rain-curtailed game, New Zealand posted 270 runs on the board in 47 overs. In reply, Sehwag and Gambhir put on a show scoring 201 without loss when rain halted the game again. As per DLS, Indian sealed the game with 10 wickets in hand.

1. Virat Kohli’s 52-ball Century against Australia at Jaipur in 2013:

Who else can take the top spot when Virat Kohli is in the hunt. The flamboyant striker of the ball displayed his masterclass with the bat against Australia to register the fastest century by an Indian in ODI format by reaching the mark in just 52 balls.

The top five of Aaron Finch, Phil Hughes, Shane Watson, skipper George Bailey, and Glenn Maxwell all hit half-centuries with Bailey (92*) and Hughes (83) top-scoring as Indian bowlers were decimated on a batting beauty.

After coming in at the fall of opener Shikhar Dhawan’s wicket, so brutal was Virat Kohli’s assault that the Aussie bowlers were left stunned as they watched the ball repeatedly cross the ropes.

Kohli’s hundred was studded with eight fours and seven sixes. In the process, the 25-year-old broke Virender Sehwag’s 60-ball century record against New Zealand in 2009.

Even Rohit Sharma scored 141* in that game but Virat Kohli stole the show with his blistering knock.