Namibia’s Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton smashes record for fastest T20I hundred with 33-ball ton against Nepal

Namibia batter Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton has created history by smashing the fastest hundred in T20I cricket. He reached three figures in only 33 balls against Nepal on Tuesday, February 27 in Kirtipur in the first match of the tri-series also featuring Netherlands.

With his swashbuckling knock, Loftie-Eaton broke Kushal Malla’s record. The latter reached a hundred off 34 balls, representing Nepal against Mongolia in the Asian Games Men's Cricket Competition in September 2023.

22-year-old Loftie-Eaton ended up hammering 101 off 36 balls in the T20I match against Nepal, a whirlwind knock that featured 11 fours and eight sixes. The young left-handed batter finished his innings with a strike rate of 280.56 as Namibia posted 206/4 in their 20 overs after winning the toss and opting to bat first.

Namibia got off to a decent start with the bat as openers Michael van Lingen (20 off 19) and Malan Kruger (59* off 48) added 36 in six overs. Van Lingen was dismissed by Karan KC after which Rohit Paudel got the wickets of JP Kotze (11) and Jan Frylinck (5).

At 62/3, Loftie-Eaton joined forces with Kruger and the two featured in a scintillating 135-run stand for the fourth wicket. The former was dismissed in the last over of Namibia’s innings, caught by Gulsan Jha off Abinash Bohara’s bowling.

Incredibly, before his record-breaking ton on Tuesday, Loftie-Eaton had a poor batting record in T20Is. He averaged a paltry 10.70 from 32 matches, scoring 182 runs at a strike rate of 100.55.

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Loftie-Eaton tops elite list with record-breaking ton

With his smashing hundred against Nepal, Loftie-Eaton now occupies the top position among batters with the fastest T20I tons. As mentioned earlier, he broke the previous record set by Nepal’s Malla (34 balls).

South Africa’s David Miller, Indian captain Rohit Sharma and Czech Republic’s Sudesh Wickramasekara now move down to joint third on the list. All three have notched up T20I hundreds in 35 balls.

Miller scored 101* off 36 balls against Bangladesh in Potchefstroom in October 2017. Rohit clobbered 118 off 43 balls against Sri Lanka in Indore in December 2017, a knock that featured 12 fours and 10 sixes.

As for Wickramasekara, he slammed 104* off 36 against Turkey in Ilfov County in the Continental Cup in August 2019.