Johnson Charles Breaks Chris Gayle Record For Fastest T20I Hundred By West Indies Player

It rained sixes on Sunday (March 26) noon at the SuperSport Park in Centurion as Johnson Charles broke the record held by legendary Chris Gayle for the fastest T20I hundred by a West Indies batter.

Charles, who smashed 100 off 39 balls, achieved the feat during the second T20I between West Indies and South Africa. In the end, Charles departed for 118 off 46 balls. His knock included 11 sixes and 10 fours.

Johnson Charles smashed a 39-ball hundred as records tumbled in Centurion (Image Courtesy: Windies Cricket Twitter)

With that knock, Charles surpassed Gayle's record of a 47-ball hundred that he scored against England at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai during the 2016 T20 World Cup. Charles also surpassed Evin Lewis and Rovman Powell to get to the hundred in very quick fashion.

Fastest T20I Hundred For West Indies

Player	Versus	Venue	Balls
Johnson Charles	South Africa	Centurion	39
Chris Gayle	England	Mumbai	47
Evin Lewis	India	Lauderhill	48
Chris Gayle	South Africa	Johannesburg	50
Rovman Powell	England	Bridgetown	51

While Charles scored the fastest hundred by a West Indian, he fell short of the fastest in the world. In the overall fastest T20I hundreds list, South Africa's David Miller, India's Rohit Sharma and Czech Republic's Sudesh Wickramasekara jointly top the list with 35-ball hundreds each.

Fastest T20I Hundreds

Player	Team	Versus	Venue	Balls
David Miller	South Africa	Bangladesh	Potchefstroom	35
Rohit Sharma	India	Sri Lanka	Indore	35
Sudesh Wickremasekara	Czech Republic	Turkey	Ilfov County	35
Johnson Charles	West Indies	South Africa	Centurion	39
Zeeshan Kukikhel	Hungary	Austria	Lower Austria	39
Sivakumar Periyalwar	Romania	Turkey	Ilfov County	39

Following 11 maximums in the innings, Charles went level with Gayle and one behind Evin Lewis, who smashed 12 maximums in 2017 against India, for most sixes in a T20I by a West Indies batter.

West Indies also equalled the record for most sixes in a single T20I innings as they smashed 22 maximums at the SuperSport Park. While Charles smashed 11 sixes, Romario Shepherd & Kyle Mayers (4 sixes), Rovman Powell (2) and Odean Smith (1) hit the remaining sixes.

Earlier, Afghanistan also had scored 22 sixes in a singles innings in their match against Ireland in 2019 at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium in Derhadun, India. West Indies' previous best was 21 sixes against India in 2016.

Coming back to the West Indies innings, Kyle Mayers scored 51 off 27 balls and shared a 135-run stand off 58 balls with Charles for the second wicket after the visitors suffered an early blow, losing Brandon King in the first over.

Skipper Powell (28 off 19 balls) and Shepherd (41 not out off 18 balls) played cameos in the end to power West Indies to 258/5, their highest total in the format, in the allotted 20 overs.