Fastest hundreds: AB de Villiers, Corey Anderson, Shahid Afridi
Fastest hundreds: De Villiers, Anderson, Afridi
By CricketCountry staff
As we go gaga over AB de Villiers’ record-breaking 31-ball hundred against West Indies at Johannesburg, let us recall the other two One-Day International (ODI) hundreds scored in less than 40 balls. A teenage Shahid Afridi had beefed his way to 37-ball hundred in only his second ODI at Nairobi; it had seemed an astonishing feat at that time, what with Sanath Jayasuriya having set the 48-ball benchmark just six months earlier.
Let us compare the three innings, ball by ball. How did the three men progress throughout their innings?
| Balls faced | Shahid Afridi | Corey Anderson | AB de Villiers | |||||||||
| Score | 4s | 6s | SR | Score | 4s | 6s | SR | Score | 4s | 6s | SR | |
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100.0 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 400.0 |
| 2 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 300.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 50.0 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 300.0 |
| 3 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 233.3 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 166.7 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 233.3 |
| 4 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 175.0 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 150.0 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 200.0 |
| 5 | 11 | 1 | 1 | 220.0 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 120.0 | 12 | 2 | 0 | 240.0 |
| 6 | 11 | 1 | 1 | 183.3 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 116.7 | 18 | 2 | 1 | 300.0 |
| 7 | 11 | 1 | 1 | 157.1 | 13 | 1 | 1 | 185.7 | 22 | 3 | 1 | 314.3 |
| 8 | 17 | 1 | 2 | 212.5 | 14 | 1 | 1 | 175.0 | 28 | 3 | 2 | 350.0 |
| 9 | 17 | 1 | 2 | 188.9 | 14 | 1 | 1 | 155.6 | 34 | 3 | 3 | 377.8 |
| 10 | 17 | 1 | 2 | 170.0 | 16 | 1 | 1 | 160.0 | 34 | 3 | 3 | 340.0 |
| 11 | 23 | 1 | 3 | 209.1 | 17 | 1 | 1 | 154.5 | 36 | 3 | 3 | 327.3 |
| 12 | 29 | 1 | 4 | 241.7 | 21 | 2 | 1 | 175.0 | 38 | 3 | 3 | 316.7 |
| 13 | 30 | 1 | 4 | 230.8 | 27 | 2 | 2 | 207.7 | 38 | 3 | 3 | 292.3 |
| 14 | 31 | 1 | 4 | 221.4 | 28 | 2 | 2 | 200.0 | 39 | 3 | 3 | 278.6 |
| 15 | 37 | 1 | 5 | 246.7 | 34 | 2 | 3 | 226.7 | 45 | 3 | 4 | 300.0 |
| 16 | 43 | 1 | 6 | 268.8 | 40 | 2 | 4 | 250.0 | 51 | 3 | 5 | 318.8 |
| 17 | 45 | 1 | 6 | 264.7 | 40 | 2 | 4 | 235.3 | 57 | 3 | 6 | 335.3 |
| 18 | 51 | 1 | 7 | 283.3 | 46 | 2 | 5 | 255.6 | 61 | 4 | 6 | 338.9 |
| 19 | 55 | 2 | 7 | 289.5 | 46 | 2 | 5 | 242.1 | 67 | 4 | 7 | 352.6 |
| 20 | 59 | 3 | 7 | 295.0 | 52 | 2 | 6 | 260.0 | 68 | 4 | 7 | 340.0 |
| 21 | 59 | 3 | 7 | 281.0 | 53 | 2 | 6 | 252.4 | 72 | 5 | 7 | 342.9 |
| 22 | 59 | 3 | 7 | 268.2 | 53 | 2 | 6 | 240.9 | 73 | 5 | 7 | 331.8 |
| 23 | 65 | 3 | 8 | 282.6 | 53 | 2 | 6 | 230.4 | 74 | 5 | 7 | 321.7 |
| 24 | 71 | 3 | 9 | 295.8 | 59 | 2 | 7 | 245.8 | 74 | 5 | 7 | 308.3 |
| 25 | 72 | 3 | 9 | 288.0 | 65 | 2 | 8 | 260.0 | 78 | 6 | 7 | 312.0 |
| 26 | 76 | 4 | 9 | 292.3 | 71 | 2 | 9 | 273.1 | 82 | 7 | 7 | 315.4 |
| 27 | 77 | 4 | 9 | 285.2 | 77 | 2 | 10 | 285.2 | 82 | 7 | 7 | 303.7 |
| 28 | 78 | 4 | 9 | 278.6 | 83 | 2 | 11 | 296.4 | 88 | 7 | 8 | 314.3 |
| 29 | 78 | 4 | 9 | 269.0 | 84 | 2 | 11 | 289.7 | 92 | 8 | 8 | 317.2 |
| 30 | 82 | 5 | 9 | 273.3 | 84 | 2 | 11 | 280.0 | 98 | 8 | 9 | 326.7 |
| 31 | 83 | 5 | 9 | 267.7 | 85 | 2 | 11 | 274.2 | 104 | 8 | 10 | 335.5 |
| 32 | 89 | 5 | 10 | 278.1 | 89 | 3 | 11 | 278.1 | ||||
| 33 | 89 | 5 | 10 | 269.7 | 93 | 4 | 11 | 281.8 | ||||
| 34 | 95 | 5 | 11 | 279.4 | 94 | 4 | 11 | 276.5 | ||||
| 35 | 95 | 5 | 11 | 271.4 | 95 | 4 | 11 | 271.4 | ||||
| 36 | 97 | 5 | 11 | 269.4 | 101 | 4 | 12 | 280.6 | ||||
| 37 | 101 | 6 | 11 | 273.0 | ||||||||
Afridi’s record was eclipsed by Corey Anderson, who raced to 36-ball hundred on New Year’s Day of 2014 against West Indies at the small ground of Queenstown (Jesse Ryder had also scored a 46-ball hundred that day). It seemed inevitable, given the changes Twenty20 cricket has brought in, that the record would not last — but nobody really expected it to be beaten by a whopping five deliveries (if that seems too less, it is a 14% improvement on the previous record).