Deepak Hooda joined an exclusive club on Tuesday as he became only the fourth Indian to score a century in Twenty20 Internationals.
Hooda achieved the milestone during the second and final T20I against Ireland at The Village in Malahide on the outskirts of national capital Dublin, reaching the three-figure mark in just 55 deliveries in what was a knock of the highest quality. The knock also happens to be his first international ton, surpassing his personal best of 47*, that he had achieved just two days back against the same opposition.
The Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) all-rounder, promoted to open in the series opener on Sunday, but coming in at one-down in this game, smashed nine 4s and six 6s during his stay at the crease. He reached the milestone with a single off Josh Little at the start of the 18th over, though he would get dismissed in the final delivery of the same over, getting caught by Andy McBrine.
For his excellent 💯, @HoodaOnFire is our Top Performer from the first innings.
A look at his batting summary here 👇👇#TeamIndia #IREvIND pic.twitter.com/uDFgIcOe58
— BCCI (@BCCI) June 28, 2022
He was ably assisted by wicketkeeper-batter Sanju Samson, who replaced Ruturaj Gaikwad as Ishan Kishan's opening partner and made the most of the opportunity with a blazing 77 off 42 balls. The pair stitched a record 176-run stand for the second wicket and helped the Men in Blue recover from Kishan's early dismissal with just 13 on the board.
Hooda's knock ensured India went past the 200-run mark rather comfortably and even though they lost wickets in a heap in the slog overs, they still ended up with a formidable 225/7 — their fourth-highest total in the format.
India's regular skipper Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul and former batter Suresh Raina are the only other Indians to have scored a ton in the format, with Raina the first to achieve the feat with his 101 against South Africa in the 2010 ICC World T20.
Rohit, meanwhile, has achieved the milestone four times, including his 118 against Sri Lanka in 2017 that is the highest individual score by an Indian in the format. Rahul, meanwhile, has two tons in the format — 110 not out and 101 not out against West Indies and England respectively.
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