Ahmedabad, Dec 21 (IANS) Punjab top-order batter Anmolpreet Singh has smashed the fastest List A century by an Indian batter through his 35-ball hundred in a chase of 165 against Arunachal Pradesh on day one of the Vijay Hazare Trophy league stage in Ahmedabad on Saturday.
Through his blazing knock, Anmolpreet has broken Yusuf Pathan’s previous record of 40 balls for the fastest century hit by an Indian batter in List A cricket. Pathan, the former India all-rounder, had hit that whirlwind hundred for Baroda against Maharashtra in the 2009/10 Vijay Hazare Trophy season.
Only Australia’s Jake Fraser-McGurk (29 balls) and South Africa’s AB de Villiers (31) have hit faster List A hundred than Anmolpreet in the world. De Villiers still holds the record for the fastest ODI century by smashing 149 off 44 balls for South Africa against West Indies in Johannesburg in January 2015.
At the Narendra Modi Stadium ‘A’ ground, Anmolpreet came out to bat at number three after the fall of Punjab captain Abhishek Sharma in the second over. From there, the right-handed batter took all bowlers to the cleaners by hitting 12 fours and nine sixes to be unbeaten on 115 off 45 balls, as Punjab chased down 165 in just 12.5 overs and clinched a nine-wicket win.
Wicketkeeper-batter Prabhsimran Singh, Anmolpreet’s cousin, was the other unbeaten batter with 35 not out off 25 balls as the duo shared an unbeaten 153-run partnership for the second wicket. Anmolpreet was a member of the India U19 team becoming runners-up in the 2016 Men’s U19 World Cup in Bangladesh.
He has represented Mumbai Indians (MI) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the IPL, but made just 139 runs in nine innings across four seasons. Anmolpreet wasn’t picked by any of the ten franchises in the IPL 2025 mega auction held in Jeddah last month.
–IANS
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