Shreyas Iyer, Shai Hope and Abhishek Sharma rewrite T20I record books

Shreyas recently scored his maiden T20 century for India against West Indies. | Photo Credit: AP

42 The number of balls Shreyas Iyer needed to register his maiden T20I century for India in Lucknow. This makes his effort the joint sixth-fastest T20I century for India. It was also the joint second-fastest by a T20I captain against a full-member opponent. Only his former team-mate and captain, Rohit Sharma, is ahead of Iyer with a 35-ball century against Sri Lanka in Indore in 2017. A few days later, in Ranchi, West Indian captain Shai Hope joined this list with a 45-ball century.

Quickest (in fewest balls) to reach an individual T20I century for India

+ Captain; # wicket-keeper; India won all the above games.

Quickest T20I century (in fewest balls) by a captain against a full-member opponent

2 The number of batters to reach the career milestone of 5000 runs in T20 cricket before the age of 24 years. Tilak Varma, during his unbeaten 44 off 18 balls in Ranchi, became the second-youngest after Afghan batter Rahmanullah Gurbaz to reach 5000 runs in T20 cricket. The table below now lists three Indians. Tilak Varma, while reaching this milestone, also became joint fourth-quickest among Indian batters in terms of innings. The second table below has the details. 

Youngest to reach 5000 runs in a T20 career 

Note: the career figures above are updated until the end of the match in which the milestone was achieved

Indians quickest (in fewest innings) to reach 5000 runs in a T20 career

Note: the career figures above are updated until the end of the match in which the milestone was achieved

45 The number of balls Shai Hope needed to register a T20I century in the Ranchi match. This is now the joint-fastest by any opponent batter against India. He now joins England’s Jacob Bethell, who also took the same number of balls to reach his three-figure score at the Wankhede Stadium during the T20 World Cup earlier this year. Interestingly, both these batters, while playing for different sides were born in Barbados. Meanwhile, Shai Hope’s century in Ranchi is the second fastest in terms of fewest balls faced by a captain while opening the innings against a full-member opponent, behind Rohit Sharma’s 35-ball hundred against Sri Lanka in 2017.

Quickest T20I century (in fewest balls) by an opponent batter against India

Quickest T20I century (in fewest balls) by a captain against a full-member opponent while opening the innings

Note: Except for Babar Azam, all the above batters faced the first ball of the innings

1024 The number of balls Abhishek Sharma needed to reach the milestone of 2000 runs in his T20I career. Abhishek thus took 140 fewer balls than his former team-mate Suryakumar Yadav, who previously held the record when he reached his personal milestone in December 2023.

Quickest (facing fewer balls) to reach 2000 runs in a T20I career (from full-member nations)

Note: Two batters from associate member nations, Karanbhir Singh (for Austria) and Waseem Muhammad (UAE), not listed above, needed 1180 and 1293 balls, respectively, to reach their 2000 T20I career runs.

5 The number of batters to achieve three-figure scores across formats in international matches played on Indian soil. Shreyas Iyer in Lucknow and Shai Hope in Ranchi became the latest to join this elite group. The latter is the second visiting batter, after Australian Glenn Maxwell, to do this on Indian soil. Meanwhile, Shreyas Iyer is the seventh Indian batter after Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, K. L. Rahul, Virat Kohli, Shubman Gill, and Yashasvi Jaiswal to register three-figure scores across formats in international cricket. Overall, Shai Hope is the 36th batter and only the second West Indian after Chris Gayle to achieve this in international cricket.

Batters registering three-figure scores across all three formats (Tests, ODIs, T20Is) on Indian soil

Note: Maxwell’s two ODI centuries have come against Netherlands and Afghanistan 

7 The number of occasions T20 sides have successfully chased targets of 250 or more. However, this has happened only twice in T20 international matches, and both involved the West Indians — once as a losing side and, more recently, as the winner against India in Ranchi on 9 October 2026. Incidentally, this was the third time on Indian soil after Kolkata and Delhi.

Targets of 250 or more successfully chased in T20 cricket

+ in T20Is

All the above records are correct and updated until 17 October 2026.

Published on Oct 21, 2026

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