Fastest Test Centuries

Sr. No.	Name	Balls	For	Against	Venue	Year	Result
1	Brendon McCullum	54	New Zealand	Australia	Christchurch	2015/16	Lost by 7 wickets
2	Vivian Richards	56	West Indies	England	St John’s	1985/86	Won by 240 runs
3	Misbah-ul-Haq	56	Pakistan	Australia	Abu Dhabi	2014/15	Won by 356 runs
4	Adam Gilchrist	57	Australia	England	Perth	2006/07	Won by 206 runs
5	Jack Gregory	67	Australia	South Africa	Johannesburg	1921/22	Drawn
6	Shivnarine Chanderpaul	69	West Indies	Australia	Georgetown	2002/03	Lost by 9 wickets
7	David Warner	69	Australia	India	Perth	2011/12	Won by innings and 37 runs
8	Chris Gayle	70	West Indies	Australia	Perth	2009/10	Won by 35 runs
9	Roy Fredericks	71	West Indies	Australia	Perth	1975/76	Won by innings and 87 runs
10	Colin de Grandhomme	71	New Zealand	West Indies	Wellington	2017/18	Won by innings and 67 runs
11	Majid Khan	74	Pakistan	New Zealand	Karachi	1976/77	Drawn
12	Kapil Dev	74	India	Sri Lanka	Kanpur	1986/87	Drawn
13	Mohammad Azharuddin	74	India	South Africa	Calcutta	1996/97	Lost by 329 runs
14	Brendon McCullum	74	New Zealand	Sri Lanka	Christchurch	2014/15	Won by 8 wickets
15	AB de Villiers	75	South Africa	India	Centurion	2010/11	Won by innings and 25 runs
16	Gilbert Jessop	76	England	Australia	The Oval	1902	Won by 1 wicket
17	Brian Lara	77	West Indies	Pakistan	Multan Cricket Stadium	2006/07	Drawn
18	Shahid Afridi	78	Pakistan	West Indies	Bridgetown	2004/05	Lost by 276 runs
19	Shahid Afridi	78	Pakistan	India	Lahore	2005/06	Drawn
20	Virender Sehwag	78	India	West Indies	Gros Islet	2006	Drawn
21	Brendon McCullum	78	New Zealand	Pakistan	Sharjah	2014/15	Won by innings and 80 runs
22	David Warner	78	Australia	Pakistan	Sydney	2016/17	Won by 220 runs
23	Chris Gayle	79	West Indies	South Africa	Cape Town	2003/04	Drawn
24	Chris Gayle	80	West Indies	England	Kennington Oval	2004	Lost by 10 wickets
25	Sarfraz Ahmed	80	Pakistan	Australia	Dubai Sports City Stadium	2014/15	Won by 221 runs
26	Mahela Jayawardene	81	Sri Lanka	Bangladesh	Sinhalese Sports Club Ground	2001/02	Won by innings and 137 runs
27	Kamran Akmal	81	Pakistan	India	Lahore	2005/06	Drawn
28	Ross Taylor	81	New Zealand	Australia	Hamilton	2009/10	Lost by 176 runs
29	Brian Lara	82	West Indies	Australia	St. John’s	1998/99	Lost by 176 runs
30	Daniel Vettori	82	New Zealand	Zimbabwe	Harare	2005/06	Won by innings and 294 runs
31	David Warner	82	Australia	West Indies	Sydney	2015/16	Drawn
32	Bruce Taylor	83	New Zealand	West Indies	Auckland	1968/69	Lost by 5 wickets
33	Adam Gilchrist	84	Australia	India	Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai	2000/01	Won by 10 wickets
34	Adam Gilchrist	84	Australia	Zimbabwe	Perth	2003/04	Won by innings and 175 runs
35	Matthew Hayden	84	Australia	Zimbabwe	Sydney	2003/04	Won by 9 wickets
36	Clive Lloyd	85	West Indies	India	Bangalore	1974/75	Won by 267 runs
37	Shikhar Dhawan	85	India	Australia	Mohali	2012/13	Won by 6 wickets
38	Ben Stokes	85	England	New Zealand	Lord’s	2015	Won by 124 runs
39	Ian Botham	86	England	Australia	Old Trafford, Manchester	1981	Won by 103 runs
40	Kapil Dev	86	India	England	Modi Stadium, Kanpur	1981/82	Drawn
41	Chris Cairns	86	New Zealand	Zimbabwe	Auckland	1995/96	Drawn
42	Wasim Akram	86	Pakistan	Sri Lanka	Galle	2000	Won by innings and 163 runs
43	Adam Gilchrist	86	Australia	New Zealand	Wellington	2004/05	Drawn
44	Mitchell Johnson	86	Australia	South Africa	Cape Town	2008/09	Lost by innings and 20 runs
45	Hardik Pandya	86	India	Sri Lanka	Pallekele	2017	Won by innings and 171 runs
46	Ian Botham	87	England	Australia	Leeds	1981	Won by 18 runs
47	Mohammad Azharuddin	87	India	England	Lord’s	1990	Lost by 247 runs
48	Virender Sehwag	87	India	Sri Lanka	Galle	2008	Won by 170 runs
49	Virender Sehwag	87	India	South Africa	Kolkata	2009/10	Won by innings and 57 runs
50	Hashim Amla	87	South Africa	Australia	Perth	2012/13	Won by 309 runs

In the list of 50 fastest Test centuries ever, there are only 15 of them which were scored before the year 2000. The game has picked up speed and batsmen nowadays score at a pace much higher than what the batsmen of earlier generations used to score. This has resulted in such a difference in the instances on the list.

New Zealand v Australia - 2nd Test: Day 1

The effect of T20 cricket can be seen in the ODI and Test formats as well. While this has resulted in high scoring matches, test matches last for about four days on an average and the percentage of drawn tests has been reduced.

With the ever-increasing pace of the game, more number of faster centuries will enter this list in the near future.

The quick centuries that have been scored even when the conditions didn’t force them, do not impress the purists, but can be a catalyst to attract people’s interest in the format. With the longer format being endangered, this can prove to be on the advantageous side for Test cricket.

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