Complete analysis of the first 15 centuries in T20 Internationals

Rohit Sharma scored his career’s first Twenty20 century in Dharamsala

In the first T20 International between India and South Africa at Dharamsala, Rohit Sharma scored the second century for India in T20Is. He scored 106 in 66 balls which is overall the 15th century in T20 Internationals.

Among the 15 T20I hundreds, Rohit Sharma’s century is the first in India. Now among the test playing nations Australia, Pakistan, and Zimbabwe are the only countries where no batsman has scored a century in T20 Internationals. Only three T20Is have been played in Pakistan so far.

Let’s analyze these 15 T20I hundreds. First let’s list those hundreds.

Centuries in T20 Internationals (chronological order)

Batsman	Runs	Balls	Inns	For	Against	Venue	Date	Result
Chris Gayle	117	57	1	West Indies	South Africa	Johannesburg	11-Sep-07	Lost
Brendon McCullum	116*	56	1	New Zealand	Australia	Christchurch	28-Feb-10	Tied
Suresh Raina	101	60	1	India	South Africa	Gros Islet	02-May-10	Won
Mahela Jayawardene	100	64	1	Sri Lanka	Zimbabwe	Providence	03-May-10	Won
Tillakaratne Dilshan	104*	57	1	Sri Lanka	Australia	Pallekele	06-Aug-11	Won
Richard Levi	117*	51	2	South Africa	New Zealand	Hamilton	19-Feb-12	Won
Richie Berrington	100	58	1	Scotland	Bangladesh	The Hague	24-Jul-12	Won
Brendon McCullum	123	58	1	New Zealand	Bangladesh	Pallekele	21-Sep-12	Won
Martin Guptill	101*	69	2	New Zealand	South Africa	East London	23-Dec-12	Won
Aaron Finch	156	63	1	Australia	England	Southampton	29-Aug-13	Won
Alex Hales	116*	64	2	England	Sri Lanka	Chittagong	27-Mar-14	Won
Ahmed Shehzad	111*	62	1	Pakistan	Bangladesh	Dhaka	30-Mar-14	Won
Faf du Plessis	119	56	1	South Africa	West Indies	Johannesburg	11-Jan-15	Lost
Morne van Wyk	114*	70	1	South Africa	West Indies	Durban	14-Jan-15	Won
Rohit Sharma	106	66	1	India	South Africa	Dharamsala	02-Oct-15	Lost

Brendon McCullum is the only batsman to score two centuries in T20 Internationals.
Richard Levi, Martin Guptill and Alex Hales are the only batsmen to score centuries while chasing in T20 Internationals.
Richie Berrington is the only player from associate nations to score a century in T20 Internationals.
Chris Gayle was the first to score a century in T20Is which was the 20th match of T20Is and first of ICC World T20.
Chris Gayle, Faf du Plessis and Rohit Sharma’s centuries resulted in losses.
Brendon McCullum’s first century resulted in a tie and later his team won in the super over.
Chris Gayle, Suresh Raina, Mahela Jayawardene, Brendon McCullum (second 100), Alex Hales and Ahmed Shehzad’s centuries were in World T20.
Faf du Plessis and Morne van Wyk scored centuries in successive T20I matches.
Johannesburg and Pallekele are the only venues where two T20I centuries have been scored. Interestingly at Johannesburg, both the centuries resulted in a loss as the team batting second successfully chased down the huge targets!
The year 2012 had the most number of T20I centuries – 4. In 2015 so far three centuries have been scored with more than two months left.
Tillakaratne Dilshan and Faf du Plessis are the only two to score T20I century as a captain.
Brendon McCullum (second 100) and Morne van Wyk are the only ones to score T20I century as a wicketkeeper.
Out of the 15 centuries, 12 have come by openers and three by batsmen batting at number three. Brendon McCullum (second 100), Faf du Plessis and Suresh Raina are those who hit centuries at number three position.

Team-wise distribution of T20I centuries

Team	No. of 100s
New Zealand	3
South Africa	3
India	2
Sri Lanka	2
Australia	1
England	1
Pakistan	1
Scotland	1
West Indies	1

No T20I century has been scored for Bangladesh and Zimbabwe yet.
Highest individual score for Zimbabwe is 79 by Hamilton Masakadza against Canad in 2008 and for Bangladesh it is 88* by Tamim Iqbal against West Indies in 2012.

Opposition-wise distribution of T20I centuries

Team	No. of 100s
South Africa	4
Bangladesh	3
Australia	2
West Indies	2
England	1
New Zealand	1
Sri Lanka	1
Zimbabwe	1

South Africa is the team with joint highest number of T20I centuries and also the team against which most number of centuries have been scored in T20Is. Interestingly, twice they chased down the target of 200+ runs when a batsman from opposition scored century in the first inning.
No Bangladesh batsman has hit a T20I centuries but they have conceded three 100s in the format.
India and Pakistan are the only test playing teams which have not yet conceded a T20I century. Highest against India is 98 by Chris Gayle in World T20 2010 and against Pakistan it is 84 by Shakib Al Hasan in World T20 2012 and by Kusal Perera in 2013.
India has played the least T20I matches among top-8 test playing nationals while Pakistan has played the most.

Number of boundaries in the centuries in T20Is

Batsman	Runs	Balls	Fours	Sixes	S/R
Chris Gayle	117	57	7	10	205.26
Brendon McCullum	116*	56	12	8	207.14
Suresh Raina	101	60	9	5	168.33
Mahela Jayawardene	100	64	10	4	156.25
Tillakaratne Dilshan	104*	57	12	5	182.45
Richard Levi	117*	51	5	13	229.41
Richie Berrington	100	58	10	5	172.41
Brendon McCullum	123	58	11	7	212.06
Martin Guptill	101*	69	9	6	146.37
Aaron Finch	156	63	11	14	247.61
Alex Hales	116*	64	11	6	181.25
Ahmed Shehzad	111*	62	10	5	179.03
Faf du Plessis	119	56	11	5	212.50
Morne van Wyk	114*	70	9	7	162.85
Rohit Sharma	106	66	12	5	160.60

Aaron Finch (14), Richard Levi (13) and Chris Gayle (10) hit 10 or more sixes in their innings.
Mahela Jayawardene hit the least number of sixes among the T20I centuries (4 sixes).
Richard Levi hit the least number of fours (5) while Brendon McCullum, Tillakaratne Dilshan and Rohit Sharma hit most number of fours (12) in their century knocks.
Guptill had the lowest strike rate (146.37) and Aaron Finch had the highest (247.61).
Morne van Wyk faced 70 deliveries which is the most number of balls faced in an innings in T20 Internationals.

Number of balls to score centuries in T20Is

Batsman	Runs	Balls to 100
Richard Levi	117*	45
Faf du Plessis	119	46
Aaron Finch	156	47
Brendon McCullum	116*	50
Chris Gayle	117	50
Brendon McCullum	123	51
Tillakaratne Dilshan	104*	55
Richie Berrington	100	57
Ahmed Shehzad	111*	58
Suresh Raina	101	59
Alex Hales	116*	60
Rohit Sharma	106	62
Mahela Jayawardene	100	63
Morne van Wyk	114*	67
Martin Guptill	101*	69

Richard Levi’s century in 45 balls is the fastest in T20Is while Martin Guptill’s 69-ball century is the slowest.
Faf du Plessis (46) and Aaron Finch (47) are the others to complete centuries within 50 balls.
The first two T20I centuries were both completed in 50 balls by Chris Gayle and Brendon McCullum respectively.

Least career innings to score a T20I century

Batsman	Inns
Richard Levi	2
Chris Gayle	4
Morne van Wyk	5
Aaron Finch	7
Richie Berrington	11
Suresh Raina	12
Faf du Plessis	22
Mahela Jayawardene	25
Ahmed Shehzad	25
Alex Hales	29
Tillakaratne Dilshan	32
Brendon McCullum	33
Martin Guptill	35
Rohit Sharma	36

Richard Levi score a century in only his second T20I inning while Rohit Sharma’s recent knock came in his 36th inning which is as of now the most number of innings to score maiden T20I century.
Brendon McCullum’s first century was in his 33rd inning and the second in his 49th.
Shahid Afridi has played most number of innings without scoring a century in T20Is – 78. His highest score is 54* and has hit four 50s.

Number of half-centuries before maiden T20I century

Batsman	50s
Richard Levi	0
Richie Berrington	0
Chris Gayle	1
Morne van Wyk	1
Aaron Finch	1
Suresh Raina	1
Mahela Jayawardene	3
Ahmed Shehzad	3
Martin Guptill	4
Faf du Plessis	5
Tillakaratne Dilshan	5
Alex Hales	6
Brendon McCullum	6
Rohit Sharma	7

Richard Levi and Richie Berrington converted their first 50+ score into a hundred.
Rohit Sharma scored most 50s before scoring his maiden T20I century.
David Warner has hit 11 50s without making a century. His highest score is 90*. His opening partner Shane Watson is the other batsman to score 10 or more 50s without a century. He has hit 10 50s with best of 81.

This was the analysis of the first 15 T20I centuries updated till the end of the India vs South Africa series.