Muhammad Shahzad hits 49-ball hundred, fastest first-class ton by a Pakistani

Muhammad Shahzad reached 100 off 49 balls for Pakistan Television on Thursday 24 September 2026, the fastest first-class hundred ever made by a Pakistani batter. The 22-year-old, who has not yet played for Pakistan, broke Misbah-ul-Haq's 56-ball record from the Abu Dhabi Test against Australia in 2014, which had stood for 12 years.

He was bowled by Zia-ul-Haq for 114 off 62 balls, with 12 fours and 8 sixes. That is 96 of his 114 runs in boundaries.

The innings in numbers

The match is a third-round game of the President's Trophy against Kingsmen Academy (listed by some outlets as Hyderabad Kingsmen Academy) at the Diamond Club Ground in Islamabad. Mohammad Taha made 43 off 72 balls at the other end, so Shahzad scored the bulk of a partnership that turned 34 for 3 into a total PTV could defend.

Where 49 balls ranks

Wisden lists it as the eighth-fastest hundred in first-class cricket anywhere. The two fastest, Glen Chapple and Mark Pettini, both took 27 balls, but both came against deliberately gentle bowling set up to force a declaration, so they are usually read with an asterisk. Among genuine match innings, Shahzad is now a ball behind the 48-ball hundreds of Viv Richards and Rishabh Pant.

Misbah's 56-ball hundred came in a Test, which also counts as first-class, and it equalled the fastest Test hundred at the time. Shahzad's came in domestic cricket, but the record is the same list.

Why it matters for Pakistan selection

Pakistan's red-ball side has had trouble finding middle-order batters who can move a Test forward on flat home pitches, and the selectors watch the President's Trophy, which is the departmental first-class competition, for exactly that. The same tournament has already pulled in bigger names: Naseem Shah joined SNGPL for the ongoing round this week.

A single innings does not make a Test call-up, and nothing has been said by the PCB about Shahzad. But an uncapped 22-year-old with six first-class hundreds and a national record now has a case the selectors will be asked about at every squad announcement this season.

Not the other Shahzad

Muhammad Shahzad is not Ahmed Shehzad, the former Pakistan opener, and not Mohammad Shahzad, the Afghanistan wicketkeeper. Searches for the name this week will mix all three.

What is next

The President's Trophy continues through the autumn. Pakistan's men's team is at the Asian Games, where its quarter-final is on Monday 28 September at 5am PKT: the full draw is on our Asian Games cricket schedule in Pakistan time, and every live match is in our cricket match centre. If you are streaming a full day of domestic cricket on mobile data, our mobile load tax calculator shows how much of a recharge actually reaches your balance.