Playing Test cricket is the pinnacle for many players. Getting the Test cap and leaving an immediate mark with their performance is on every player’s mind.
Beginning a career in Test cricket comes with a lot of pressure and expectations. But many batters showcased their temperament by scoring a century on debut.
A handful of them romped their way to the three-digit mark in fewer balls, recording the fastest tons.
Here, we’ll look at the 5 fastest centuries smashed on Test debut.
5. Abul Hasan (Bangladesh): 106 balls vs West Indies | 2012
Bangladesh’s Abul Hasan created history as he scored 113 runs against the West Indies while coming to bat at No. 10. Before his knock, only Australia’s Reggie Duff had scored a Test century at No. 10 on debut in 1902.
Bangladesh were playing the second Test against the Windies at home and were struggling at 193 for 8. It looked like the Bangla Tigers would be wrapped up under 200 runs, but Abul Hasan came as a ray of hope.
He stitched a crucial 184-run stand with Mahmudullah to push Bangladesh’s score to 365 for 8 by the end of the first day. And Hasan also brought up his maiden hundred right at the close of the first day’s play in 106 balls.
The next day, he resumed the innings only to depart at 113 runs. Hasan’s knock included 14 fours and 3 sixes.
4. Matt Prior (England): 105 balls vs West Indies | 2007
Matt Prior announced himself in style at the start of the 2007 English summer. In the first Test against the West Indies, he was one of the four batters who slammed centuries in the first innings.
Coming to bat No. 7, the wicketkeeper-batter forged an unbroken partnership of 190 runs with Ian Bell. Prior got off the mark with a four, making his intentions clear in the first few balls.
Bell crawled his way up to the triple figures at a snail’s pace, while Prior zoomed past the mark in 105 balls. This was the first Test century by an English keeper-batter on debut at the Lord’s.
Prior started his innings with a four and ended it with a four, remaining unbeaten on 129 runs.
3. Prithvi Shaw (India): 99 balls vs West Indies | 2018
A young Prithvi Shaw had a memorable start to his Test career in 2018. After guiding the India Under-19 team to the World Cup triumph earlier in the year, he soon found himself in the senior Test side.
He opened the innings against the West Indies in the first Test in Rajkot. Shaw lost his opening partner, KL Rahul, in the first over but found an able ally in Cheteshwar Pujara as he hammered his maiden Test hundred.
The Mumbai batter reached his fifty in 56 balls, making him the youngest Indian to score a half-century on Test debut. He was 18 years and 329 days old at that time.
Soon after lunch on the first day, Shaw completed his hundred in 99 balls, making it the second fastest century on Test debut for India. He eventually fell to Devendra Bishoo on 134 runs, hammering 19 fours.
Also Read | 5 Youngest Indian Batters to Score a T20I Century
2. Dwayne Smith (West Indies): 93 balls vs South Africa | 2004
Dwayne Smith occupies the second spot with the first sub-100 ball century on Test debut. Coming to bat at No. 6, Smith played a courageous knock to draw the third Test against South Africa.
South Africa had set a target of 441 runs, and the West Indies were at 224 for 4 with more than 30 overs to go in the match. Dwayne Smith walked in to pull up the team.
He had scored 20 runs in the first innings, but in the second innings, he not only went past the score but blasted a blazing ton. Smith brought up his hundred in 93 balls, smashing 15 fours and 2 sixes. He remained unbeaten on 105 runs in 105 balls.
1. Shikhar Dhawan (India): 85 balls vs Australia | 2013
Shikhar Dhawan holds the record for scoring the fastest century on Test debut. The left-hander had a thunderous start to his brief Test career.
Dhawan’s debut match was against Australia in 2013. He had replaced Virender Sehwag in the squad for the third Test match.
And Dhawan imitated Sehwag’s batting style, scoring his maiden hundred at a 100+ strike rate. He first took on the Australian pacers and then charged on the spinners to smash boundaries across the ground.
Dhawan scored a run-a-ball fifty and then increased his onslaught to bring up his first Test century off 85 balls. He later went on to accumulate 87 more runs before departing.
Dhawan’s incredible innings of 187 runs included 33 fours and 2 sixes and came at a strike rate of 107.47!
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