Pakistan and Sri Lanka will be hosting the upcoming Asia Cup 2023 from August 30 to September 17. There have been 15 editions of the Asia Cup tournament, and the upcoming one will be the 16th in the tally.
With so many legendary and iconic batters having played in the Asia Cup, we will tell you today about the ones who have smashed the fastest centuries in the history of this continental tournament.
Here are the 5 fastest centuries hit in men’s Asia Cup (ODI format):
5. Sanath Jayasuriya (72 balls) vs Bangladesh, 1997
One of the most destructive openers of all-time, and someone who changed the dynamics of opening in ODI cricket in the 90s, Sri Lanka’s Sanath Jayasuriya cracked a 72-ball century against Bangladesh in Colombo in the 1997 Asia Cup.
With the help of 14 fours and 2 sixes, Jayasuriya scored 180 runs in 83 balls – a strike rate of 130, rarely seen in those days, but was a regular event from Jayasuriya’s bat – taking Sri Lanka to a mammoth 103-run win over Bangladesh.
That was the fastest-ever century in Asia Cup history, a record that stood for 11 years.
4. Shahid Afridi (68 balls) vs Sri Lanka, 2010
The then-Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi sizzled in the opening match of the 2010 Asia Cup in Dambulla by plundering a 68-ball century. He finished with 109 runs in 76 balls, whacking 8 fours and 7 eye-catching sixes in his knock in pursuit of the target of 243 runs.
However, after Afridi got out with only 38 runs more needed, Pakistan had an epic collapse and lost by 16 runs.
3. Suresh Raina (66 balls) vs Hong Kong, 2008
For a brief period, Suresh Raina held the record of the fastest-century in Asia Cup history when he notched up a three-figure score in 66 deliveries against Hong Kong in the 2008 Asia Cup in Karachi. Raina’s century, along with a hundred from MS Dhoni, helped India reach a gigantic total of 374, and Hong Kong lost by a massive margin of 256 runs.
Raina’s record was broken five days later in the same tournament.
2. Sanath Jayasuriya (55 balls) vs Bangladesh, 2008
Jayarusirya reclaimed his record of the fastest Asia Cup hundred from Suresh Raina in the same 2008 tournament, just five days after Raina had broken Jayasuriya’s record.
Jayarusirya unfurled his wrath over the hapless Bangladeshi bowlers in Karachi, smashing a thunderous 55-ball hundred, and finished with 130 off 88 balls (strike rate of 147!) as Sri Lanka won by 158 runs.
1. Shahid Afridi (53) balls vs Bangladesh, 2010
The Pakistani marauder batsman Shahid Afridi remains the current holder of the record for the fastest Asia Cup century – he smoked his hundred in only 53 balls against Bangladesh in the 2010 Asia Cup game in Dambulla.
In one of the most carnage-filled knocks from Afridi, the right-hander ransacked 124 runs in 60 balls (strike rate of 206!!) with the help of 17 fours and 4 sixes. Pakistan won by 139 runs.
