Fastest century in IPL history: Chris Gayle’s 30-ball hundred still stands
Chris Gayle holds the record for the fastest century in the IPL, reaching 100 off 30 balls for Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2013.
May 18, 2023 · Updated Sep 2, 2026
That innings finished on 175 not out from 66 balls, against Pune Warriors at Bengaluru on 23 April 2013, and it is still the highest individual score in IPL history. Thirteen years on, nobody has got to a hundred faster.
Two ways to measure a fast hundred
“Fastest century” normally means the fewest balls taken to reach 100. Gayle got there off his 30th delivery and then kept batting, which is why his innings does not appear at the top of a list sorted by balls faced.
The table below is that second measure — the hundreds made off the fewest balls in total. It is the one that can be checked line by line against the record of every IPL hundred, and for the batters who were dismissed or finished within a few runs of three figures, the two numbers are almost the same.
Fastest IPL centuries by balls faced
| Player | Score | Balls | 6s | Team | Opponent | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yusuf Pathan | 100 | 37 | 8 | Rajasthan | Mumbai | Mar 2010 |
| Vaibhav Sooryavanshi | 103 | 37 | 12 | Rajasthan | Hyderabad | Apr 2026 |
| David Miller | 101* | 38 | 7 | Punjab | Bangalore | May 2013 |
| Vaibhav Sooryavanshi | 101 | 38 | 11 | Rajasthan | Gujarat | Apr 2025 |
| Heinrich Klaasen | 105* | 39 | 9 | Hyderabad | Kolkata | May 2025 |
| Travis Head | 102 | 41 | 8 | Hyderabad | Bangalore | Apr 2024 |
| Will Jacks | 100* | 41 | 10 | Bangalore | Gujarat | Apr 2024 |
| Priyansh Arya | 103 | 42 | 9 | Punjab | Chennai | Apr 2025 |
| Tilak Varma | 101* | 45 | 7 | Mumbai | Gujarat | Apr 2026 |
| Adam Gilchrist | 109* | 47 | 10 | Deccan | Mumbai | Apr 2008 |
| Cameron Green | 100* | 47 | 8 | Mumbai | Hyderabad | May 2023 |
| Ishan Kishan | 106* | 47 | 6 | Hyderabad | Rajasthan | Mar 2025 |
| Finn Allen | 100* | 47 | 10 | Kolkata | Delhi | May 2026 |
| Sanath Jayasuriya | 114* | 48 | 11 | Mumbai | Chennai | May 2008 |
| Jonny Bairstow | 108* | 48 | 9 | Punjab | Kolkata | Apr 2024 |
A teenager has two of the four fastest
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi is in this list twice, and both innings came for Rajasthan at Jaipur. The 101 from 38 balls against Gujarat in April 2025 was made in his first IPL season; the 103 from 37 against Hyderabad a year later, with 12 sixes, is the joint-fastest hundred by balls faced in the competition’s history.
Yusuf Pathan’s 100 from 37 balls against Mumbai in 2010 had stood alone at the top of that measure for sixteen years.
The list has been rewritten since 2024
Seven of the ten fastest hundreds by balls faced have been made since the start of the 2024 season. Only four of the fifteen above were made before 2020 — Gilchrist and Jayasuriya in the first season, Pathan in 2010 and Miller in 2013.
AB de Villiers’s 129 not out from 52 balls, which sat fifth on this page’s old list, no longer makes the top fifteen.
Chris Gayle vs Pune Warriors, 2013
Gayle came in at the start of the innings and hit 13 fours and 17 sixes, reaching his hundred off 30 balls and finishing unbeaten on 175 from 66. Royal Challengers Bangalore made 263 for 5, Pune Warriors were held to 133 for 9, and the match was won by 130 runs.
Both records from that afternoon still stand: the fastest hundred, and the highest individual score.
For the six-hitting record across all Twenty20 cricket, including the IPL, see our list of the players with the most sixes in T20 cricket.
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Photo credit: Alamy