Rishabh Pant registers fastest T20 century by Indian batsman

Out-of-favour wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant created history by scoring the fastest T20 century by an Indian batsman and the second fastest by any batsman during Delhi's Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 trophy North Zone match against Himachal Pradesh at the Feroz Shah Kotla stadium in New Delhi.

Chasing 145 to win, Pant sent the bowlers on a leather hunt and got his team off to a flying start as Delhi reached their 50 in just 4.3 overs. Soon after that, Pant reached his half-century, off just 18 balls, with the help of seven fours and three sixes.

That's when the Delhi Daredevils batsman shifted gears as he scored his next 50 runs in just 14 balls with the help of just one boundary and seven massive sixes. Pant reached his maiden T20 century off just 32 balls and broke the record set by Rohit Sharma for the fastest T20 century when the Mumbaikar reached the three-figure mark off just 35 balls against Sri Lanka in Indore last month.

Pant is now second in the list of the batsmen with the fastest T20 centuries with only Chris Gayle (100 off 30 balls for Royal Challengers Bangalore against Pune Warriors India in Bengaluru in 2013) above him.

The left-hander from Delhi scored his runs at a strike-rate of 306 runs per 100 balls and remained unbeaten on 116 off just 38 balls with eight fours and 12 sixes. Pant's innings helped Delhi beat Himachal by 10 wickets with over eight overs to spare.

Fastest T20 centuries

Pant, who has been average with the bat of late, will gain a lot of confidence from this knock and will hope that this kick starts his national comeback trail. Recently, he was retained by Delhi Daredevils for the 2017 IPL for a whopping INR 15 crore.