Fastest century in T20 World Cup: Finn Allen’s 33 balls broke a record Chris Gayle held for a decade
Finn Allen scored the fastest T20 World Cup century off 33 balls in 2026, 14 quicker than Chris Gayle. The full list, all 18 tournament hundreds and the Indian record.
Jun 25, 2024 · Updated Sep 7, 2026
The fastest century in a men’s T20 World Cup is Finn Allen’s, off 33 balls, for New Zealand against South Africa at Eden Gardens on 4 March 2026. He finished unbeaten on 100 from those 33 deliveries, with 10 fours and eight sixes, at a strike rate of 303.03.
It took 14 balls off a record that had stood for a decade. Chris Gayle’s 47-ball hundred against England at the Wankhede in 2016 had been the mark since, and before that Gayle’s own 50-ball effort from the very first tournament in 2007. Most versions of this list still name him.
Fastest century in T20 World Cup history
Balls taken to reach 100, men’s tournament proper, as at 7 September 2026, from ESPNcricinfo’s T20 World Cup fastest-hundreds record.
| Balls | Player | Score | For | Against | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 33 | Finn Allen | 100* | New Zealand | South Africa | 4 Mar 2026 |
| 45 | Jacob Bethell | 105 | England | India | 5 Mar 2026 |
| 47 | Chris Gayle | 100* | West Indies | England | 16 Mar 2016 |
| 50 | Chris Gayle | 117 | West Indies | South Africa | 11 Sep 2007 |
| 50 | Harry Brook | 100 | England | Pakistan | 24 Feb 2026 |
| 51 | Brendon McCullum | 123 | New Zealand | Bangladesh | 21 Sep 2012 |
| 52 | Rilee Rossouw | 109 | South Africa | Bangladesh | 27 Oct 2022 |
| 52 | Pathum Nissanka | 100* | Sri Lanka | Australia | 16 Feb 2026 |
| 57 | Sahibzada Farhan | 100* | Pakistan | Namibia | 18 Feb 2026 |
| 58 | Ahmed Shehzad | 111* | Pakistan | Bangladesh | 30 Mar 2014 |
| 58 | Yuvraj Samra | 110 | Canada | New Zealand | 17 Feb 2026 |
| 59 | Suresh Raina | 101 | India | South Africa | 2 May 2010 |
| 59 | Sahibzada Farhan | 100 | Pakistan | Sri Lanka | 28 Feb 2026 |
| 60 | Alex Hales | 116* | England | Sri Lanka | 27 Mar 2014 |
| 60 | Tamim Iqbal | 103* | Bangladesh | Oman | 13 Mar 2016 |
| 61 | Glenn Phillips | 104 | New Zealand | Sri Lanka | 29 Oct 2022 |
| 63 | Mahela Jayawardene | 100 | Sri Lanka | Zimbabwe | 3 May 2010 |
Jacob Bethell’s 45, and the number that was missing until now
Jacob Bethell made 105 from 48 balls for England against India in the 2026 semi-final at the Wankhede, and his hundred came up on the 45th ball — second on this list, and the fastest by an England batter at any T20 World Cup. For several months after the tournament that number was not published anywhere: all that could be said was that it was 48 or fewer, and inside Harry Brook’s from the same tournament. ESPNcricinfo has since put it in its record, and 45 is what it says.
The eighteenth T20 World Cup hundred is still not on the list, and it is Jos Buttler’s unbeaten 101 from 67 balls against Sri Lanka in 2021 — the record stops at 63 balls, and Buttler’s is too slow to reach it either way.
Three other balls-to-hundred figures moved when the record was published, all by one ball and all in the same direction: Harry Brook 50 rather than 51, Sahibzada Farhan 57 against Namibia rather than 58, and 59 against Sri Lanka rather than 60. A batter who is dismissed for exactly 100 reached three figures before the last ball he faced, so balls faced is an upper bound on balls to the hundred, not the hundred itself.
Allen’s 33 balls, and how far clear it is
The gap is the story. Allen’s hundred is 14 balls faster than the record it broke, on a list where everything else is bunched together: the sixteen entries below him run from 45 balls to 63, a spread of 18. The gap from first to second is 12, two-thirds as wide as the whole rest of the table put together.
He did it chasing in a semi-final at Eden Gardens, and the shape of the innings is the part that stands out: fifty from 19 balls, and the second fifty from 14. He got faster as he went.
The arithmetic is brutal either way. A hundred from 33 deliveries means 18 of them went to the boundary and 15 did not. Eight sixes and 10 fours account for 88 of the runs, so the other 12 came off the remaining 15 balls. New Zealand chased South Africa’s 169 in 12.5 overs and won by nine wickets; the full account is in our report on Allen’s hundred against South Africa.
It is also the only hundred in T20 World Cup history made at a strike rate above 300. The next best are Jacob Bethell’s 218.75 and Brendon McCullum’s 212.06, and no other centurion has cleared 210.
Only 18 centuries in ten tournaments
For all the scoring, the T20 World Cup hundred remains rare. There have been 18 in ten editions since 2007, and they are distributed nothing like evenly.
| Edition | Centuries |
|---|---|
| 2007 | 1 |
| 2009 | 0 |
| 2010 | 2 |
| 2012 | 1 |
| 2014 | 2 |
| 2016 | 2 |
| 2021 | 1 |
| 2022 | 2 |
| 2024 | 0 |
| 2026 | 7 |
Seven of the 18 came in 2026 alone — Allen, Bethell, Brook, Nissanka, Samra and two from Sahibzada Farhan. The nine tournaments before it produced eleven between them, and two of those nine, 2009 and 2024, produced none at all. The rows add to 18, which is the check worth running on any version of this table.
That is the same pattern the team scores show. Our page on the highest score in a T20 World Cup records seven of the ten biggest totals coming from that one month.
Gayle is no longer the only man with two
Chris Gayle made the first T20 World Cup hundred, 117 against South Africa in the opening match of the 2007 tournament, and his second at the Wankhede in 2016. From then he was the only player with two of them. Sahibzada Farhan joined him in 2026, with an unbeaten 100 against Namibia on 18 February and 100 against Sri Lanka ten days later.
The two records are not the same shape. Gayle’s are eight and a half years and four tournaments apart; Farhan made both inside eleven days, which makes him the only player to score two centuries in a single T20 World Cup. He also finished that tournament as its leading run-scorer with 383, a record of its own — the detail is on our page on the most runs in T20 World Cup.
The fastest T20 World Cup century by an Indian
Suresh Raina’s, off 59 balls against South Africa at Gros Islet on 2 May 2010, and it is unchallenged for a straightforward reason: he is the only Indian to have made a century at a T20 World Cup at all. Eighteen hundreds, and exactly one of them is India’s.
Raina finished on 101 from 60 balls at Gros Islet. No India batter has made a hundred at the tournament in the sixteen years since, and the closest anyone has come is Sanju Samson’s unbeaten 97 from 50 balls against West Indies at Eden Gardens in 2026.
Common questions about the fastest century in T20 World Cup
Who scored the fastest century in T20 World Cup history? Finn Allen of New Zealand, off 33 balls against South Africa at Eden Gardens on 4 March 2026. He finished 100 not out from 33 deliveries.
What was the record before that? Chris Gayle’s 47-ball hundred against England at the Wankhede in 2016, which had stood for ten years.
How many centuries have been scored in T20 World Cups? Eighteen, across ten editions. Seven of them came at the 2026 tournament, and none at all in 2009 or 2024.
Who has scored the fastest T20 World Cup century for India? Suresh Raina, off 59 balls against South Africa in 2010. He remains the only Indian to have made a hundred at the tournament.
Has anyone scored two centuries at a T20 World Cup? Chris Gayle and Sahibzada Farhan have two each. Farhan is the only one to have made both in the same tournament, in 2026.
More T20 World Cup records
- Most runs in T20 World Cup
- Highest score in T20 World Cup
- Most wickets in T20 World Cup
- Most matches in T20 World Cup
- T20 World Cup winners list
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Photo credit: Alamy