South Africa batter Aiden Markram was on Wednesday officially ruled out of the remaining two T20I against India. Meanwhile, he had already missed the first three games after testing positive for COVID-19 before the opening match in Delhi. Markram, who tested positive after the first couple of practice sessions, will not be able to return to the competitive arena post the mandatory isolation period.

Also Read: Wanindu Hasaranga ruled out of the 2nd ODI with a Groin Strain

"Proteas batsman, Aiden Markram, has been ruled out of the remainder of the Proteas' tour of India. He spent seven days in quarantine after testing positive for COVID-19 last week and will not be able to complete his return to play program in time to take part in the remainder of the T20 series."

a Cricket South Africa statement said

Read Also: INDIA vs IRELAND T20I series squad announced, Hardik Pandya to lead the team

"The player is healthy and well and has been cleared to return home to look after his mental and emotional wellbeing after isolation in a local facility, as required when an individual tests positive on tour," it added.

The statement further said that a decision on wicketkeeper batter Quinton de Kock's availability for the remaining two matches will be made in due course by CSA's medical team.

"Wicket-keeper batsman, Quinton de Kock, has made a marked improvement in his recovery from a wrist injury. The Proteas' medical staff will continue to assess his progress and make a decision on his availability for match four in due course,"

The statement read

South Africa leads the five-match series 2-1 with the fourth T20I scheduled to be played here on Friday.

Indian team batsman Abhishek Sharma performed brilliantly in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and scored a century in just 28 balls against Meghalaya. With this, Abhishek has jointly become the second batsman to score the fastest century in the T20 format. in this article, we will discuss the fastest hundreds in T20s.

Also Read: Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy: Shreyas Gopal gets hat-trick against Baroda; enters list of elites with most T20 hat-tricks

Fastest Hundreds in T20s

1# Sahil Chauhan (2024) | 27 Balls

Sahil Chauhan of Estonia holds the record of fastest hundreds in T20s. Chauhan scored a century against Cyprus in just 27 balls in the year 2024. In this match, Sahil had scored unbeaten 144 runs in 41 balls with the help of 6 fours and 18 sixes. His strike rate was 351.21. Sahil Chauhan had created a world record by playing this historic innings in the second innings.

2# 𝗔𝗯𝗵𝗶𝘀𝗵𝗲𝗸 𝗦𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗺𝗮 (2024) | 28 Balls

Indian Cricket Team batter Abhishek Sharma smashed a 28-ball century featuring for Punjab against Meghalaya. Sharma joined Urvil Patel to hit the joint fastest hundreds in T20s. The southpaw amassed 106 (29), which featured eight fours and eleven sixes. With 11 sixes against Meghalaya, Abhishek also broke Suryakumar Yadav's record for most sixes in a calendar year by an Asian batter in T20s. Sharma has 87 sixes, two more than SKY. 

3# Urvil Patel (2024) | 28 Balls

While playing for Gujarat in Syed Mushtaq Trophy 2024 against Tripura, Urvil Patel has done a wonderful job by scoring a century in 28 balls in T-20. Urvil has become the batsman to score the joined fastest century in T-20 for India. The right-handed batter made an unbeaten 113 off 35 balls with seven fours and 12 sixes.

4# Chris Gayle (2013) | 30 Balls

West Indies batsman Chris Gayle, while playing for the RCB team in 2013, made a record of scoring a century on only 30 balls in the IPL match against Pune Warriors and finished on 175 not out. Gayle also holds the record of hitting fastest century in Indian Premier League. Gayle blasted 17 sixes and 13 fours off just 66 deliveries.

5# Rishabh Pant (2018) | 32 Balls

Indian team's wicket-keeper batter Rishabh Pant, while playing for Delhi in the Syed Mushtaq Trophy in 2018, scored a century in only 32 balls in the match against Himachal Pradesh. Pant is now the fifth fastest batsman to score fastest hundreds in T20s. He finished with an unbeaten 38-ball 116. Pant made 104 of his runs in boundaries with 12 sixes and eight fours.

After two days of exciting show auction in Jeddah, the ten Indian Premier League (IPL) franchises were able to pick their squad for the IPL 2025. Rishabh Pant came out as the most expensive player in IPL auction's history with a humongous INR 27 cr bid from Lucknow Super Giants while Shreyas Iyer was the first player ever to get a 25 cr plus deal in an IPL auction.

Shreyas Iyer, the IPL 2024 winning captain received a 26.75 cr bid from Punjab Kings, who had released most of their players during the retention and wanted a captain in their squad. Along with him, Punjab Kings with the highest money in the purse before the auction, were responsible for three of the top 10 most expensive bids. They first brought back their fast bowler Arshdeep Singh for INR 18 cr and after Shreyas Iyer's bid, they made Yuzvendra Chahal the most expensive spinner in IPL history.

Chahal, who everyone thought could go back to RCB, was eventually bought by Punjab Kings for a whooping INR 18 cr, which was the fourth-highest bid of the auction. Meantime, the defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders surprised everyone after buying back Venkatesh Iyer for INR 23 cr. They nearly fought a bidding war with Royal Challengers Bangalore to bring him back to Eden Gardens.

Jos Buttler was another marquee player, who was supposed to be big in the auction and he was Gujarat Titan's highest bid of the season at INR 15.75 cr. KL Rahul, went to Delhi Capitals for INR 14 cr, which everyone thought was another case of RCB not going all-out for a player. 

Trent Boult reunited with Jasprit Bumrah at Mumbai Indians, after the five-time champions decided to spend most of their money on retaining their core group of players. The Kiwi pacer was sold for INR 12.5 cr. Aussie pacer Josh Hazlewood also attracted the same amount of money from RCB, who were looking for a good fast bowler, after they let Mohammed Siraj go in the retention and auction as well. 

Top 10 most expensive players in IPL 2025 auction

The first match of the five-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy series between India and Australia is to be played in Perth from November 22. However, there are many questions regarding what will be the combination of the Indian team's batting lineup. 

Also Read: Border-Gavaskar Trophy Head-to-head stats: Which team has won the most between Australia and India?

After Rohit Sharma is out of this test match, the captaincy will be in the hands of Jasprit Bumrah. In such a situation, Bumrah will have to brainstorm with head coach Gautam Gambhir as to how the playing 11 will be. Notably, the Indian team's 5-match Test series against Australia is important for reaching the final of the World Test Championship (WTC).

Here's how India's batting lineup is shaping up for the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

Rahul will open with Jaiswal

KL Rahul got injured during the India-A practice match by a rising delivery from Prasidh Krishna. But now there is news about Rahul that he has completely recovered. So Rahul can open with Yashasvi Jaiswal. At the same time, the chances of Shubman Gill playing in the Perth Test are negligible.  Because he has a fracture in his left thumb. Gill will now be able to play in the second Test starting on December 6 in Adelaide. Devdutt Padikkal, Virat Kohli, and Sarfaraz Khan will be in the middle order.

Who will take charge at number 3?

In the absence of Rohit, the responsibility of opening the innings may be on the shoulders of Jaiswal and KL Rahul.  In this challenging series, Virat Kohli would like to finish at number four. In this sequence, Virat has scored 25 out of 29 centuries in his Test career. So, Devdutt Padikkal or Sarfaraz Khan will have to come at number three. After this, Dhruv Jurel and Rishabh Pant at numbers 6 and 7 can strengthen Team India.

Also Read: Which player has played the most games in Border-Gavaskar Trophy? 8th player in the list might shock you

Jurel can play as specialist batsman 

Wicketkeeper-batsman Dhruv Jurel impressed everyone in the match against Australia A. He scored 80 and 68 runs in two innings at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). After this, He can play as a specialist batsman in the team. Former head coach of Team India Ravi Shastri has also advocated this. Pant will be seen wicketkeeping in the match. 

India's probable playing XI for the Perth Test:

Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Devdutt Padikkal, Virat Kohli, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Jasprit Bumrah (c), Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep.

Indian squad for Australia tour: 

Rohit Sharma (c), Jasprit Bumrah (vc), Ravindra Jadeja, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Sarfaraz Khan, Virat Kohli, Prasidh Krishna, Ravichandran Ashwin, Rishabh Pant (wk), KL Rahul, Harshit Rana, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Shubman Gill, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Mohammed Siraj, Washington Sundar.

Indian wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant is back in the top 10 of the ICC Test rankings after impressive performances in the third match of the ICC World Test Championship series played in Mumbai.

Also Read: 204 from 1574 registered players to be picked up in IPL 2025 auction: Auction Details

Pant, who scored 60 in the first innings and 64 in the second innings, has moved up five places to sixth, one less than his career-best fifth position achieved in the 2022 Edgbaston Test against England. His rating has become 750.

Yashasvi Jaiswal lost one place

Yashasvi Jaiswal could not do anything special in the last Test against New Zealand, which is why he has now slipped one place down to number 4, his rating is now 777. Steve Smith still remains at number 5 with a rating of 757. Apart from Pant and Jaiswal, no batsman from India has been able to make his place in the ICC Test Rankings' top 10 list.

Rohit and Virat have gone far away from top 10

However, if we talk about Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, both these star batsmen have now gone far away from the top 10. Their comeback now seems very difficult. Virat has gone down a total of 8 places. His rating has dropped to 655 and he is at number 22, his second lowest since the end of the 2014 tour of England. Rohit, on the other hand, has gone straight to number 26. He has lost two places. His rating at present is 629. 

Also Read: Is it the end of Rohit-Kohli? How can India qualify for WTC final? Who else whitewashed India at home?

Jadeja moved to sixth

In the bowling rankings, left-arm spinners India’s Ravindra Jadeja and Player of the Match Ajaz Patel of New Zealand have made headway after their performances at Wankhede Stadium. Jadeja’s third 10-wicket match haul has helped him move up from eighth to sixth and past the 800-point mark while Patel’s 11 wickets have taken him to a career-best 22nd position with a 12-rung jump.

ICC Test Rankings (Batting)

ICC Test Rankings (Bowling)

Madhya Pradesh's powerful batter Rajat Patidar scored third fastest century in Ranji Trophy history in just 68 balls during day four of his side’s Ranji Trophy 2024-25 round three match against Haryana in Indore. 

Also Read: Ranji Trophy 2024-25 first round roundup: Top performers

During the match between Haryana and Madhya Pradesh of Ranji Trophy Elite 2024-25, Patidar came to bat at number three for Madhya Pradesh. During his innings, he batted aggressively and scored a hundred and took 68 balls for this. This was Patidar's record century. He had scored 159 runs in 102 balls with a strike rate of 155.68. He had completed 150 runs in 97 balls. In his stormy innings, Rajat hit 13 fours and 7 sixes.

Madhya Pradesh had conceded a hefty 132-run first-innings lead after Haryana racked up 440 in response to MP’s 308. With only two sessions left to play, they needed to score rapidly to set a target, and Patidar took charge to give MP the boost they needed in the final innings push.

Fastest century from Madhya Pradesh

Rajat Patidar has also become the batsman to score the fastest century in Ranji Trophy for Madhya Pradesh. This century was Patidar’s 13th in First-Class cricket and marked a comeback for the 31-year-old, who has struggled for form at the start of the domestic season.

Following a disappointing Duleep Trophy campaign in which he managed only 146 runs in six innings, Patidar also faltered in the opening Ranji round. However, he began regaining momentum in the previous match against Punjab, scoring a solid 90.

Patidar's first-class record

Rajat Patidar has a good record in domestic matches. He has scored 4344 runs in 63 first class matches. Patidar has scored 12 centuries and 23 half-centuries. His best score in this format has been 196 runs.

Rajat Patidar has also played three Test matches for Team India. But he could not do anything special during this period. He has also played one ODI match for India. 

Also Read: Ranji Trophy 2024-25: Full schedule and fixture

Fastest century in Ranji Trophy history

• 48 balls - Rishabh Pant (2016/17)
• 56 balls - Riyan Parag (2023-24)
• 68 balls - Rajat Patidar (2024-25)
• 69 balls - Naman Ojha (2015-16)
• 72 balls - Eklavya Dwivedi (2015-16)
• 82 balls - Rishabh Pant (2016/17)

Coming in at No. 3 on the final day of play, Patidar set the game alight with an electrifying knock that eclipsed the previous Madhya Pradesh record for the fastest Ranji Trophy century, leapfrogging Naman Ojha's 69-ball hundred against Karnataka in 2015. The all-time record remains with Rishabh Pant, who smashed a 48-ball hundred in 2016 against Jharkhand.