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Scoring a rampant century may always be a fine sight for the fans and a real source of entertainment but isn’t such a bright news after all for the team it comes against. Isn’t it? Even more so where it comes to Test match cricket. But then there have been quite a few fastest hundreds that have been scored against dominant teams like India that have not only birthed some of the finest Test batting efforts but took Team India to the cleaners.
Never a great sight for the fans of the team that’s now clearly a part of the Big 3, the team that has already reached the finals of the World Test Championship a couple of summers ago. Having said that, let us spare some time to appreciate some classy Test match hundreds with batters responsible for striking some of the fastest hundreds against India in Test cricket.
List of batters with fastest hundreds against India in Test cricket
David Warner - 69-ball century in 2012
One of the mighty talented batters from Australia, as a matter of fact, an all time great from the bastion of cricketing excellence that is Australia, Warner struck back in the year 2012 a whirlwind century. A 69-ball-century that ultimately culminated in 180 unbelievably good runs that came off 159 deliveries in the end.
Now thanks to what was clearly and still is one of the fastest hundreds against India in Test cricket not only did Australia score 369 promising runs at Perth, the team confronting the Aussies was hardly able to do so. The likes of Dravid, Laxman, Sehwag, and Dhoni and even Kohli, who was still a newcomer at that time, failed to fire with the bat. After making 161 and that’s all in the first innings, they were only able to make ten more in their other batting innings.
AB de Villiers - 75-ball century in 2010
There have been many great batters but only a few can even come close to a certain AB de Villiers whose insane hitting, majestic timing and powerful presence at the wicket always commanded headlines and troubled his proud South Africa’s opponents.
He’s really been a one-of-a-kind batter and once, back in 2010, he took all of 75 deliveries to reach a fantastic century against India.
This was at the first test at the famous Centurion that one of South Africa’s most loved sons turned himself into a powerful centurion hitting five sixes and 12 fours on his way to that incredible 129. Not only did Kallis make 201 unbeaten runs on that occasion, but even the dazzling Hashim Amla struck a fantastic 140 from up top.
Resultantly, South Africa hammered India by scoring 620 runs and De Villiers was responsible for scoring one of the fastest hundreds in Test cricket.
Shahid Afridi - 78-ball century in 2006
Long before world cricket used the phrase “Boom Boom” to describe a certain Jasprit Bumrah, it would use the very same phrase to celebrate none other than Shahid Afridi.
Back in 2006 with the great right hander, always a character, always much fun, being in thick form with the bat, India earned the wrath of Afridi’s bat. The belligerent hitter struck a 78-ball century. And that would lead to an exceptional knock that still features among the fastest hundreds against India in Test cricket.
Jamie Smith - 80-ball century in 2025
While the result of this ongoing Test contest currently underway at Edgbaston is far from being known what’s become evident is that Jamie Smith is in fine nick. He took just 80-odd deliveries to overcome his own personal best Test score, which prior to his current century was 111. The Englishman from Surrey who’s also closing in on 1000 Test run tally has already hit one of the fastest hundreds against India in Test cricket and in so doing, given his team an element of respectability when it seemed they were out of contention in this game.
Kamran Akmal - 81-ball century in 2006
In a 2006 test match that took place against India at Lahore back at a time where the visiting side had big names in its ranks like that of Rahul Dravid and Virender Sehwag, a certain Kamran Akmal was in rich form and he struck a mega hundred. Needing only 81-odd deliveries to score what was among the fastest hundreds against India in Test cricket. On that occasion, Pakistan actually reached a mammoth run tally of 679 first innings runs and that was also because of Mohammad Yousuf and Younis Khan scoring big hundreds. The match, however, would end in a draw with Sehwag firing a cracking 254.
