Shaiman Anwar becomes 1st UAE batsman to hit T20I ton as hosts win 2nd T20I, series against PNG

United Arab Emirates (UAE) batsman Shaiman Anwar struck the first century for his country in Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is) to complete a series win over Papua New Guinea (PNG), on Friday in Abu Dhabi. Riding on his 68-ball 117 not out, UAE posted 180 for 3 from the stipulated 20 overs. In reply, PNG were bundled out for 150 and thus lost the match as well as the three-match series 0-2. Having won the first match on Wednesday by 5 wickets, UAE secured an unassailable 2-0 lead in the first of two games of the double-header that concludes the series on the same day.

Shaiman smacked as many as 10 fours and 6 sixes to score 117 not out. In the process, he became the 25th batsman in the world to score a T20I hundred. Interestingly, it was Shaiman who also scored UAE’s first century at a 50-over World Cup, back in February 2015, when he scored 83-ball 106 batting at No. 6 against Ireland in his side’s 2-wicket loss. Shaiman’s hundred also propelled UAE to their highest score in T20Is, eclipsing their previous best of 179-4 against Afghanistan in December 2016.

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After Shaiman’s hundred, now players from 13 sides have made T20I hundreds. Each of the Test playing countries but Zimbabwe have at least one T20I hundred being scored for them. Remaining four hundreds have come for Afghanistan, Scotland, Hong Kong and UAE. New Zealand lead the list, with 4 of their batsmen scoring a T20I ton.

West Indies’ Chris Gayle was the first ever T20I centurion, when he scored 57-ball 117 against South Africa in the tournament opener of the inaugural edition of ICC World T20 in 2007. Quite interestingly, the latest T20 centurion Shaiman also scored exactly 117 on Friday. Australian batsman Aaron Finch’s 63-ball 156 against England at Southampton in August 2013 remains the highest individual score by a batsman in T20Is.