Shanakar breaks record for fastest century in CPL, surpassing Gayle-Russell

Sri Lankan Dasun Shanaka has broken the record for the fastest century in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL), surpassing T20 stars like Chris Gayle, Andre Russell, and Kieron Pollard. Despite being past his prime, he created new history with a devastating innings with the bat.

Shanaka scored a century in just 39 balls for St. Kitts and Nevis Patriots against St. Lucia. In the end, the Sri Lankan all-rounder left the field with an unbeaten 121 runs off 43 balls.

With this innings, Shanaka broke the previous record of a 40-ball century in the CPL. Andre Russell had scored a 40-ball century in 2018. Shimron Hetmyer and Tim Seifert had both scored 40-ball centuries on the same day last year.

Chris Gayle's fastest century in the CPL came in 2016, in 49 balls. Kieron Pollard hit a century off 53 balls in 2018.

However, a century off 39 balls is not a new feat for Shanaka. He also hit a century at the same pace in Sri Lanka's domestic T20 tournament in 2016. In another match that year, Shanaka scored a century off 40 balls and ended up scoring an unbeaten 131 off 48 balls—still his highest innings in T20Is.

However, Shanaka is not at the top of the list of fastest centuries in all formats of T20Is. The record is held by Estonia's Sahil Chauhan. He hit a century off just 27 balls against Cyprus in 2024.

India's Urvil Patel and Abhishek Sharma are joint second with centuries off 28 balls. Both achieved this feat in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy in 2024. Turkey's Mohammad Fahad is next with a century off 29 balls.

And the feat of scoring a century in 30 balls belongs to one of the legends of T20, Chris Gayle. He completed his century in just 30 balls on the way to playing an epic innings of 175 not out off 66 balls in the 2013 IPL.