Anmolpreet Singh Overtakes Yusuf Pathan In This Record During VHT 2024-25; stays Behind Ab de Villiers

The top order batter for Punjab, Anmolpreet Singh, has joined the record book on the opening day of the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2024-25 by hitting the third-fastest century in List A cricket. He now stands only behind the aggressive and young opening batter, Jake Fraser McGurk from Australia and South Africa’s former captain, Ab de Villiers.

Anmolpreet Singh walked out at number three against Arunachal Pradesh in the Vijay Hazare Trophy encounter in Ahmedabad after the fall of their captain and left-handed opening batter, Abhishek Sharma, in the second over of the fixture. They were chasing a low score of 165 in the Group C game.

Earlier, their opponents had already been bundled out for a low score of 164 in just 48.4 overs. Tech Neri smashed the highest individual score of the innings in the form of 42 runs in 73 deliveries with the help of a couple of boundaries and the same number of sixes. Hardik Varma thumped 38 runs with five boundaries and one six to push them to over 150, which at the position of 124/7 looked dim.

Anmolpreet Singh smashed the fastest List A century as an Indian

Anmolpreet Singh shouldered on 12 boundaries and nine sixes to smash an unbeaten knock of 115 runs in 45 deliveries at a strike rate of 255.55 in a partnership of 153 runs for the second wicket with the other opening batter, Prabhsimran Singh, who stayed undefeated on 35 runs in 25 balls with four boundaries and one six.

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Punjab chased down the score in just 12.5 overs, which now has given a huge boost to their net run rate at the start of the competition. The Arunachal Pradesh bowlers went for plenty, as the left-arm spinner, Hardik Verma, was for the most economical at 9.52, while the off-spinner of the side, Techi Neri conceded 31 runs in the only over of the encounter.

Anmolpreet Singh smashed one six and four after going past the 100-run mark. He is now the fastest Indian to score a List-A century, going past the former Indian and Baroda all-rounder Yusuf Pathan, who nailed a century in just 40 balls. He now stands at three in the overall list after Jake Fraser MacGurk, who creamed a 29-ball century for South Australia against Tasmania in a losing effort at the Marsh Cup in October 2023.

The second member in the list is the former captain of the Proteas and their wicket-keeper batter, Ab de Villiers, who still holds the record of the fastest ODI century in 31 balls when he drilled a 149-run knock in 44 balls against West Indies at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg in January 2015. That broke the List A and ODI record of New Zealand’s Corey Anderson in 36 balls against the Caribbean side in 2014.

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Anmolpreet Singh now has smacked 1492 runs in 44 List A fixtures at an average of 37.30 and a strike rate of around 90, with the help of eight half-centuries and four centuries at the best score of 141. He was part of the Mumbai Indians (MI) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the past, with 139 runs in nine innings at a strike rate of 120, which pushed him to get unsold in the latest IPL auction.

Top Three Fastest List A centuries

Jake Fraser McGurk (South Australia)- 29 balls

Ab de Villiers (South Africa)- 31 balls

Anmolpreet Singh (Punjab)- 35 balls