Thirty balls. That really was all that was needed. On September 17, 2026 in Delhi, Abhishek Sharma went absolutely crazy against Afghanistan’s attack and scored the fastest T20I hundred by a batter from a full-member nation.
He remained not out at 108 off 34, dismissed by a catch out finally to 108, and India claimed a 127-run win in the third India vs Afghanistan T20I to clinch the series with 3-0.
Winclash featured live score that night, and trust me, the record didn’t last long as most people couldn’t get their feet on the table yet.
What Happened in the India vs Afghanistan T20I?
Nine fours, eleven sixes, and less than three runs scored in the entire innings that weren’t boundaries, that’s just how big this one was. India had already surpassed the 130 mark without losing a wicket by the time Abhishek Sharma brought up triple figures in the ninth over. Numbers like that aren’t seen in T20 cricket every day.
Not only this, but under the scorecard also rests a bigger story. This knock is part of a pattern of the Team India success story repeating itself over and over again, series after series with a 200-plus total no longer as a ceiling but the starting point. This feat might just be what defines how to put the T20I record right for Abhishek Sharma in modern-day cricket.
How Did Abhishek Sharma Make the Fastest T20I Century?
Sixteen balls to a half-century. Fourteen more to a century. When you put both of those figures together, his first fifty in the innings came about twice as quickly as his first ten did, coming off 54 deliveries, and his first hundred just 34 balls more than that, coming off 108, which translates to more or less a boundary every third ball.
For Abhishek Sharma, this one was pure pacing and power-hitting.
Second to none.
Fifty to Hundred in record time
The early storming was chiefly against the quicks, where Abhishek Sharma kept pulling anything short of a length. Once the field went back against the spinners, he simply lofted them back straight over their heads.
As is evident from the figure of 108 runs from boundaries alone, this wasn’t about swinging hard at the cricket ball, it was about finding the right ones and hitting them. This sort of power-hitting is why Abhishek Sharma is definitely a known T20I cricket record holder.
What Is Abhishek Sharma T20I Record Now?
This was his third century in T20Is, and third on the Indian list, trailing only Rohit Sharma (five) and Suryakumar Yadav (four), whereas his new record of 30 balls is three balls quicker than the previous full-member record jointly held by Zimbabwe’s Sikandar Raza and New Zealand’s Finn Allen. Abhishek Sharma will long be remembered in the annals of T20I cricket records.
Old T20I Cricket Records compared
Rohit Sharma’s 35-ball hundred against Sri Lanka in 2017 was known as India’s fastest. Well, that record just got beaten by five balls. Ignore the full members altogether though, and the outright fastest T20I hundred remains with Estonia’s Sahil Chauhan, 27 balls, against Cyprus in 2024. Different tiers, different records, that’s fair.
This one to be sure, deserves separate treatment for a full-member nation.
Anyone following Winclash Cricket scores through the day will already be well aware how rare a genuine record like this is.
No rain interruptions, no dropped catches, no bits of luck helping pad the total, just pure hitting over and over for 34 deliveries straight. For all the boundary-hunters out there, Winclash cricket team kept updating the scores in real-time throughout the India vs Afghanistan T20I.
Why Does This Innings Matter Beyond the Scorecard?
Abhishek Sharma was 2nd in the ICC T20I batting rankings on the eve of this match, behind only Ishan Kishan, a rare score in bouncing back up after dropping from the top spot in July.
While a single innings doesn’t usually go a long way with the selectors, it may be the pattern that matters. And this pattern dates even further back than this series to a 28-ball century for Punjab in domestic cricket in 2024, so that raw pace certainly wasn’t new.
What was new on September 17 was the level of opposition. Domestic bowling and a full-strength international assault aren’t anywhere near the same challenge, and that’s precisely what turned this from a stunning highlight into a proven record. This Abhishek Sharma T20I record now displays his capacity to handle the heat of the big stage.
Next In The Pipeline
Ranking wise, the climb doesn’t stop now. This innings takes something with it to the next Indian assignment, whatever that ends up being. Winclash keeps scores and ranking movements updated as they happen if that’s a metric to be tracked.
For Abhishek Sharma though, the future is very much ahead of him now having smashed down a new T20I record.
As ever, nothing in T20 cricket stays safe long, somewhere, someone is probably already chasing an even faster one down.
Conclusion
For now though, 30 balls it was, and Delhi saw the history unfold before their eyes. As the cricket world looks forward to nurturing future stars, they now know what separates a rising star from someone who is likely going to smash T20I records again and again. Until then, keep following Winclash for updates on future cricket stars and live scores.