Fastest Century in ODI: Top Records, Legends and Match Moments

One moment, a batsman walks in. A few minutes later, the scoreboard flips like a video game. The crowd’s roar turns into a wave. In the blink of an eye, from whispers of a decent strike rate, it’s full-blown cricketing chaos — a century scored in under the time it takes to finish a sandwich. The fastest centuries in ODI cricket aren’t just statistical marvels; they’re thunderclaps—jolts of energy that redefine what’s possible in 50-over matches.

Scoring a century in ODIs demands skill, stamina, and timing. Doing it at breakneck speed? That takes audacity. It’s not just about dispatching the ball to every corner of the park — it’s about doing it fast, clean, and with such dominance that it leaves even seasoned bowlers second-guessing their careers.

As a cricket journalist who’s covered every corner of the globe — from dusty local pitches to packed international venues — what I’ve seen is this truth: nothing electrifies an ODI match quite like a batsman tearing into the bowling and rewriting history with every stroke. Let’s explore the fastest centuries in ODI cricket — not just the numbers, but the stories, contexts, chaos, and cold-blooded brilliance behind them.

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Table of Contents

1. What Defines the Fastest Century in ODI?
2. The Iconic 31-Ball Blitz: AB de Villiers and the Day the Game Changed
3. Top 10 Fastest Hundreds in ODI History (Table)
4. Explosive Centuries – By Country and Context
5. Fastest ODI Centuries in World Cup Matches
6. Tactical Breakdown: How Are Fast Centuries Engineered?
7. Modern vs Classic: Has the Game Shifted?
8. India’s Fastest ODI Centuries: An Evolution of Aggression
9. The Mental Game: Inside the Head of a Stroke Machine
10. FAQs: Your Questions, Expert Answers
11. Final Word: Power, Precision, Pandemonium

What Defines the Fastest Century in ODI?

The ODI format — short, sharp, and strategic — offers a 300-ball canvas to paint a masterpiece. But when it comes to the fastest century in ODI history, we measure art with a stopwatch. Here, it’s not just about scoring a hundred runs — it’s how few deliveries it takes to reach triple digits.

The benchmark is based on the number of balls faced, not the number of minutes spent at the crease. This ensures objectivity and consistency. So whether a batsman spends 10 minutes or an hour at the crease, it’s the ball count that defines their speed — and when it drops under the 40-mark region, history pays attention.

This isn’t about fluky swipes. It’s about sustained, controlled, ruthless aggression. And it often happens when one of three things align:

• A weak bowling unit
• Small grounds or flat pitches
• A batsman locked in the zone

But even when all conditions favor the batter, what follows is still astonishing.

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The Iconic 31-Ball Blitz: AB de Villiers and the Day the Game Changed

January. A bright blue sky over Johannesburg. It began as a fairly routine ODI between South Africa and the West Indies. And yet, by the time the day ended, everyone who watched — at the stadium or on their screens — knew they’d witnessed arguably the greatest offensive display in ODI cricket.

AB de Villiers walked in with South Africa already cruising. One might assume he’d take it slow. Instead, what unfolded was a masterclass in controlled destruction: a 31-ball century.

De Villiers wasn’t swinging blindly. He was manipulating geometry. He reverse-swept fast bowlers, flicked sixes off yorkers, and scooped like a man carving sculpture out of marble. Every stroke oozed invention. Every second bowler looked shell-shocked.

He ended with 149 off 44 balls. And that 100? Done in 31 deliveries. The fastest century in ODI history.

No one came out unscathed. Not the bowlers, not the statisticians, not even the traditionalists who believed 50-over cricket was about anchoring an innings.

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Top 10 Fastest Hundreds in ODI History

Here’s a snapshot of the fastest centuries in ODI cricket to date — sheer carnage in columns:

Rank	Player	Balls	Opponent	Venue	Runs	Year
1	AB de Villiers	31	West Indies	Johannesburg	149	—
2	Corey Anderson	36	West Indies	Queenstown	131	—
3	Shahid Afridi	37	Sri Lanka	Nairobi	102	—
4	Brian Lara	45	Bangladesh	Dhaka	117	—
5	Jesse Ryder	46	West Indies	Queenstown	104	—
6	Sanath Jayasuriya	48	Pakistan	Singapore	134	—
7	Jos Buttler	46	Netherlands	Amstelveen	162	—
8	Virat Kohli	52	Australia	Jaipur	100*	—
9	Glenn Maxwell	40	Netherlands	Delhi	106	—
10	Kevin O’Brien	50	England	Bangalore	113	—

*Note: Player performances are sorted by balls to century regardless of final score.

Each century here isn’t just a data point; it’s a narrative of game-breaking innings — many of which turned the tide of the match, tournament, and even careers.

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Explosive Centuries – By Country and Context

Let’s break down the fastest centuries in ODIs by country. Some teams have favored calculators — others, dynamite.

🇮🇳 India

• Virat Kohli — 52 balls against Australia. Surgical precision.
• Virender Sehwag — Clobbery through classical strokes.
• KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma have also raced into fast centuries, blending elegance with violence.

🇿🇦 South Africa

• Arguably the spiritual home of fast ODI centuries.
• AB de Villiers. Herschelle Gibbs. Quinton de Kock.
• A team unafraid to bat like gladiators on a timed clock.

🇵🇰 Pakistan

• Shahid Afridi’s 37-ball century was once the record.
• At the time, he was just 16 — and used a borrowed bat from Waqar Younis.

🇳🇿 New Zealand

• Jesse Ryder and Corey Anderson—poster boys of explosive Kiwis.
• Often overlooked, always lethal.

🇦🇺 Australia

• Glenn Maxwell and David Warner redefine boundaries.
• No script, only carnage.

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Fastest ODI Century in World Cup Matches

World Cups amplify everything — pressure, stakes, and… centuries.

The fastest ODI century in a World Cup belongs to Kevin O’Brien of Ireland — a jaw-dropping 50-ball hundred against England. That single innings flipped the tournament and became the symbol of World Cup drama.

More recently, Glenn Maxwell’s blitz in a group stage match against the Netherlands was the fastest World Cup ton in fewer than 40 balls. It left broadcasters scrambling and fans screaming. Under lights, in high stakes, these innings echo louder than numbers suggest.

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Tactical Breakdown: How Are Fast Centuries Engineered?

This isn’t mindless hitting. There’s a science to crafting centuries in 30–50 balls.

Key Tactics:

1. Powerplay Domination: Utilize field restrictions. Target 3-4 bowlers ruthlessly.
2. Strike Rotation to Create Pressure: Not every ball goes for six. Smart batsmen keep the board ticking and bowlers on edge.
3. Boundary Zones: Players like Buttler know their hitting zones. They commit early and execute cleanly.
4. Pre-Meditated Innovation: Modern swashbucklers reverse scoop, switch-hit, and pull off lap shots — all calculated attempts to disrupt line and length.

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Modern vs Classic: Has The Game Shifted?

Today’s ODI cricket is unrecognizable from its early days. Between flat pitches, thick bats, analytics, and fearless batting lineups, it’s no longer extraordinary to strike at 120+. But back in the day, a 100 off 100 balls was domination.

Players like Jayasuriya and Afridi were ahead of their time — playing as if they’d time-traveled from the T20 era. What they pioneered, today’s players have refined.

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India’s Fastest ODI Centuries: An Evolution of Aggression

Indian cricket moved from conservative chasers to front-foot berserkers. The transformation has been spectacular.

From Mohammad Azharuddin’s cheeky strokeplay to Virat Kohli’s calculated pick-up drives to Hardik Pandya’s pure aggression, every decade’s brought a new hero.

Notably:

• KL Rahul reached his century in 52 balls in a bilateral series overseas.
• Kohli destroyed records in chasing scenarios, his fastest ton coming in a mammoth chase against Australia, where he placed risk like a surgeon handles scalpels.

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The Mental Game: Inside the Head of a Stroke Machine

Scoring at that pace requires more than bat speed. It demands clarity.

Fast centurions think three balls ahead. They aren’t “going for it” — they are constructing innings like interactive blueprints:

• Focus is ridiculously high: eye tracking, pre-meditation, and execution merge.
• Confidence must be unrealistically high — backed by thousands of hours of repetition.
• Fear? Negligible. Every fast 100 involves a surrender to instinct.

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FAQs: Expert Answers to Your Burning Questions

Who holds the record for the fastest century in ODI history?

AB de Villiers with a 31-ball century vs West Indies.

Fastest hundred in ODI by an Indian player?

Virat Kohli and KL Rahul both share that distinction with blistering scores around the 52-54 ball mark, depending on innings context.

Which player has the most centuries under 50 balls?

Shahid Afridi and Glenn Maxwell have consistently produced some of the quickest tons, though their total count varies.

Fastest ODI century in a World Cup match?

Kevin O’Brien’s 50-ball stormer versus England, etched in cricketing folklore.

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Final Word: Power, Precision, Pandemonium

Records may tumble, but not all records resonate. The fastest century in ODI cricket lives in memory longer than most — because it’s not just about how fast, but how pure.

These aren’t just stats. They’re declarations of dominance — moments when time slowed, and boundaries blurred. They speak of players who refused to wait, who turned formats on their head, who made purists uncomfortable — and fans ecstatic.

So the next time you hear of a batsman scoring a 100 in under 40 balls, don’t just see it as math. See it as poetry… written with a bat, a ball, and the hunger to etch your name in cricket’s loudest history books.

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*Want more deep stories on cricket records that shook stadiums? Bookmark this space. The game never sleeps — neither do the headlines.*