As the format gets shorter, scoring runs quicker becomes a necessity. The limited number of balls in T20I cricket means batters have to make the most out of every delivery.

And we have seen them accumulate significant chunks of runs at staggering strike rates. However, on some occasions, the batters had to adopt a more balanced way to go about their business owing to the game situation.

Many batters have scored quick-fire hundreds in the shortest format. But a few have been the exact opposite, taking too many balls to reach the three-digit mark.

This article will look at the top 10 slowest centuries in T20I cricket.

You can also find here the same record in ODI and Test formats in our blogs.

Slowest Centuries in T20I Cricket

PlayerBalls Taken to 100AgainstVenueDate
Paul Stirling (Ireland)70ZimbabweBready1 Sep 2021
Martin Guptill (New Zealand)69South AfricaEast London23 Dec 2012
Vinoo Balakrishnan (Botswana)69St HelenaRwanda25 Nov 2022
Morne van Wyk (South Africa)67West IndiesDurban14 Jan 2015
Jos Buttler (England)67Sri LankaSharjah1 Nov 2021
Sabawoon Davizi (Czech Republic)67AustriaVinor9 Jul 2022
Faheem Nazir (Switzerland)65EstoniaKerava27 Jul 2022
Aaron Johnson (Canada)64OmanAl Amerat16 Nov 2022
Rohit Sharma (India64AfghanistanBengaluru17 Jan 2024
Mahela Jayawardene (SL)63ZimbabweProvidence3 May 2010

(Note: Only those instances have been mentioned where ball-by-ball data is available.)

Key Insights

Paul Stirling holds the unwanted record for scoring the slowest century in T20Is by balls faced. The Irish opener took a staggering 70 balls to reach his hundred against Zimbabwe in 2021. And Stilring became the first batter to consume 70 or more balls to notch up a T20I hundred.

Mahela Jayawardene was the first batter to touch the 100-run mark off 60 or more balls. The Sri Lankan batting legend brought up his ton in 63 balls against Zimbabwe in 2010.

Jos Buttler’s 67-ball century against Sri Lanka is the slowest in the history of the T20 World Cup. This knock unfolded during the 2021 edition in Sharjah.

Rohit Sharma is the only batter to reach 2 or more centuries by taking up 60+ deliveries. The Hitman attained his first T20I century off 62 balls versus South Africa. And he took 64 balls to bring up his fifth T20I hundred against Afghanistan. (Check out Rohit Sharma’s hundreds list here.)

There are more than 20 instances of batters reaching their centuries in 60 or more balls in T20Is.

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