15 from 12 – that’s all Shimron Hetmyer needed to break the record for the fastest-ever hundred in T20 World Cup history. The southpaw from Guyana was having a day to remember at the Wankhede Stadium.
Shimron Hetmyer’s day out in Mumbai
Coming into the Zimbabwe vs West Indies match, Hetmyer was in a rich vein of form. Earlier in the tournament, he’d broken his own record for the fastest half-century for the West Indies in the T20 World Cup.
Hetmyer started off exceptionally well. He struck 2 fours in his first 4 balls. He should’ve walked back on the fifth delivery, but Tashinga Musekiwa dropped him at deep backward square leg. It was a regulation catch.
Zimbabwe and Musekiwa didn’t know what had happened. Hetmyer went on a run spree from there. His fifty came from just 19 balls. Bettering his record by 3 fewer deliveries. At this point, 12 overs were left.
Fastest fifty for West Indies in T20 World Cup
- 19 balls – Shimron Hetmyer (vs Zimbabwe in 2026)
- 22 balls – Shimron Hetmyer (vs Scotland in 2026)
- 23 balls – Chris Gayle (vs Australia in 2009)
A hundred were ready for there for the taking. And Hetmyer took that direction. He took a particular liking to spinners. He smashed Zimbabwe captain Sikandar Raza for 6 boundaries (4 sixes and 2 fours) in 11 balls. Hetmyer went hard after Graeme Cremer as well, taking him for 3 sixes.
Having entered his 80s with 5.4 overs left, Heytmer was ready to smash the fastest hundred in the T20 World Cup. The record belonged to another West Indian, Chris Gayle, who’d hit the two fastest centuries, in 2016 (47 balls) and 2007 (50 balls).
But it wasn’t to be. Hetmyer fell for 85 (34). Brian Bennett caught him at deep midwicket, the same position where Musekiwa had dropped him when he was on 70. And he walked back to a round of applause from the Wankhede crowd.
