Pathum Nissanka: Nissanka is another name for destruction! Climbed on the chest of Kangaroos and hit a stormy century, made record after record

New Delhi. Pathum Nissanka scored a century against Australia in just 52 balls. Nissanka played an unbeaten inning of 100 runs in 52 balls. This is the first century of the current T20 World Cup. This century of Nissanka gave Sri Lanka a place in the Super-8 with a big win by eight wickets and has brought Australia to the verge of being out of the T20 World Cup. While chasing the target of 182 runs, Nissanka attacked the Kangaroos and scored a stormy century. Nissanka hit fours and sixes all around the ground at Pallekele International Stadium and hit 10 fours and 5 sixes in the innings. He batted at a strike rate of 192. With this inning, Nissanka also made many big records. Let us know.

Nissanka scored the first century of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026. This is also the first century scored against Australia in the T20 World Cup. Earlier, the highest score against Australia was made by Omar Akmal in Mirpur in 2014. Akmal had played an inning of 94 runs. Nissanka’s unbeaten 100 runs put him ahead of Mahela Jayawardene’s 100 runs scored against Zimbabwe in 2010. Now this is the highest individual score by a Sri Lankan batsman in the T20 World Cup.

This century is also the joint second fastest century for Sri Lanka in T20 International. Nissanka had done this feat earlier also, when he scored a century in 52 balls against India last year. However, the record for the fastest T20I century for Sri Lanka is in the name of Kusal Perera, who completed his century in just 44 balls against New Zealand in 2025. In this innings, Nissanka scored 70 runs with fours and sixes. With this, he broke the record of Sanath Jayasuriya and went ahead of him in scoring the most runs from the boundary in an innings of the T20 World Cup for Sri Lanka. Jayasuriya had scored 68 runs.

What did you say after scoring the record century?
After scoring a brilliant unbeaten century to take Sri Lanka to the Super 8 stage, ‘Player of the Match’ Pathum Nissanka expressed his happiness at being able to play his natural game on a good batting pitch and said he was very happy to lead his team to victory. Talking about the run chase, Nissanka said, ‘Today the wicket was very good, which gave me a chance to play my natural game. I am very happy to score a century and lead my team to victory. We needed a good power-play. There was a very good partnership between me and Kusal Mendis in the middle, and from there we just had to continue our innings and help our team win.

Difficult path for Sri Lanka, Australia in Super-8
Sri Lanka had defeated Ireland by 20 runs in its first match. After this Oman was crushed by 105 runs. With three consecutive wins, the Sri Lankan team is at the top of the points table of Group B with a net run rate of +2.462. On the other hand, Australia is at second position in the points table after losing 2 out of 3 matches. Australia’s net run rate is +0.414. After the defeat by Sri Lanka, Australia’s hopes of reaching the Super-8 are hanging in the balance. Now it will have to win against Oman by a big margin in its last match and will also have to depend on other results for a better net run rate. If Zimbabwe defeats Ireland, Australia’s journey will end in the group stage itself.