Abhishek Sharma Hits Fastest Full Member T20I Hundred

Abhishek Sharma smashed the fastest T20I hundred by a batter from a Full Member nation, reaching three figures in 30 balls during India’s third T20I against Afghanistan in Delhi on September 17, 2026.

The India opener’s extraordinary innings rewrote both the wider Full Member record and India’s own benchmark. Abhishek completed his century five balls faster than Rohit Sharma’s previous Indian record, a 35-ball hundred against Sri Lanka in 2017. He went on to make 108 from 34 balls before falling in the 10th over of India’s innings.

It was a defining display of power from an opener who had moved to No. 2 in the ICC T20I batting rankings before the match, behind only India team-mate Ishan Kishan. The innings also provided the central individual highlight of India’s 127-run win over Afghanistan, with India finishing on 221 for 7 and Afghanistan being dismissed for 94 in 14.1 overs.

A century in 30 balls

Abhishek’s record-breaking hundred came in two rapid phases. He took 16 deliveries to bring up his first fifty, then needed only another 14 balls to move from 50 to 100. Afghanistan were given no sustained break once he had passed the halfway mark, as the left-handed opener accelerated through the second half of the milestone.

His 108 came with nine fours and 11 sixes. That means he struck a boundary six approximately once every 3.09 balls across his 34-ball stay. By the time he was dismissed, India were 142 for 1, and Abhishek had supplied just over 76% of the runs on the board at that stage.

Sanju Samson, his opening partner, made 34 from 25 balls in the partnership. The contrast in contributions underlined the scale of Abhishek’s scoring rate: he had made 108 of the 142 runs India had accumulated by the point of his departure.

The previous fastest T20I century by a Full Member batter had been 33 balls, jointly held by Zimbabwe’s Sikandar Raza, against Gambia in 2024, and New Zealand’s Finn Allen, against South Africa at the 2026 T20 World Cup. Abhishek bettered that mark by three balls.

Where the innings stands

Abhishek’s knock was his third T20I hundred for India. Only Rohit Sharma, with five, and Suryakumar Yadav, with four, have made more T20I centuries among India batters.

The 30-ball effort is not the outright fastest century in all men’s T20Is. That record remains with Estonia’s Sahil Chauhan, who hit a 27-ball hundred against Cyprus in 2024. But Abhishek now owns the leading mark among batters representing Full Member nations, adding a new international milestone to India’s victory in Delhi.

For India, the significance lies in both the record and the margin of improvement on its former standard. Rohit’s 35-ball hundred had been the country’s T20I reference point since 2017; Abhishek reduced it by five deliveries with a performance built around a 16-ball fifty, an even quicker 14-ball surge to three figures, and 20 boundaries in all.