India sets new records with fastest team 50 and 100 in Test cricket

India shattered their own record for the fastest 100 in men’s Test cricket during a thrilling match against Bangladesh in Kanpur on Monday (September 30).

The Kanpur Test, which saw significant time lost due to weather interruptions, was revitalized by an explosive start from India’s top-order batsmen, who launched their innings with an aggressive, T20-like approach against Bangladesh. Records tumbled as the batters pushed the limits.

India reached their hundred in just 10.1 overs, marking the fastest team hundred in men’s Test history (where data is available). This broke their previous record of 12.2 overs, achieved against West Indies in last year’s Test at Port of Spain.

The Indian team also smashed the record for the fastest team fifty in men’s Tests, achieving it in just 3 overs. This surpassed England’s previous record of 4.2 overs against West Indies, set earlier this year in Nottingham and Birmingham.

Before this match, India had never reached fifty within the first 20 balls of a Test innings across all formats. Their previous fastest fifty came in 3.4 overs, also against Bangladesh, during last year’s Asian Games (T20I).

During the 55-run opening partnership between Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rohit Sharma, India scored at an astonishing rate of 14.34 runs per over, completing the fifty in only 23 balls. This partnership holds the record for the highest run rate in a 50-run partnership in men’s Tests since complete FOW (fall of wickets) data became available in 1998. The previous best was 11.86 runs per over by Ben Duckett and Ben Stokes, who added 87 runs off 44 balls against West Indies in Birmingham earlier this year.

India’s batters have been on a six-hitting spree, amassing 90 sixes across the eight Tests played in 2024, setting a new record for the most sixes by a team in a calendar year in Test cricket. This surpasses England’s previous record of 89 sixes set in 2022.

Rohit Sharma added another unique feat to the record books, becoming one of only four players to hit the first two balls they faced in a Test innings for sixes. He achieved this off Khaled Ahmed in Kanpur. The first instance of this was by Foffie Williams against Jim Laker in the 1948 Barbados Test. Two other Indian players, Sachin Tendulkar and Umesh Yadav, also accomplished this in 2013 and 2019 respectively.