David Warner 100* off 44 balls (2016)

Lore & Background

The 2016 IPL season arrived with Sunrisers Hyderabad carrying the momentum of a franchise still proving itself after its 2013 title. Warner, by then already a proven international opener, had settled into the captain's role and the team's identity as a side that would chase down any total with reckless abandon. Against Kings XI Punjab, that identity was on full display. Warner walked in with the bat and the stadium's energy, and within minutes the scoreboard was scrolling faster than the commentators could keep up.

The innings was not just about speed; it was about the sheer variety of shots. Warner found the gap, launched the six, cut, pulled, and drove with the same casual confidence. The 44-ball century meant he was averaging nearly a run a ball, but the real story was the fearlessness — the refusal to guard the stumps, to play a defensive shot, to let the bowler breathe. By the time he reached fifty, the match was effectively over in spirit, and the remaining deliveries were a celebration rather than a contest.

In SRH's fan mythology, that innings sits alongside the 2013 title as a foundational memory. It is the innings fans replay in their heads when a new young opener struggles, the standard against which every big hit is measured. 'Did you see that?' becomes 'Was it like Warner's 44?' within a single over. It belongs to the city, to the orange-and-black faithful, and to the idea that Sunrisers were built to make cricket look like a highlight reel.

In Their Own Story

The floodlights hummed over the packed ground, and the air smelled of cut grass and the faint sweetness of overripe mangoes from the street vendors beyond the boundary rope. Warner stood at the crease, helmet tucked under his arm, adjusting the grip on his bat with the quiet ritual of a man about to commit a small act of violence. The bowler ran in. Warner didn't watch the ball all the way to the bat. He simply extended, and the leather left the sweet spot with a crack that echoed off the stands like a gunshot. The crowd's roar was a single, sustained chord. He didn't turn to watch where it landed. He never did. Forty-four times, he would not turn. Forty-four times, the ball would be gone before the bowler finished his follow-through. And when the hundred was up, the stadium didn't cheer — it detonated.

Reader's Guide

David Warner scored 100* off 44 balls for Sunrisers Hyderabad against Kings XI Punjab during the IPL 2016 season, one of the fastest centuries in the tournament's history at the time.

What makes it endure is the context: Warner was captain, the innings came in the powerplay and middle-overs window, and he dismissed every defensive instinct. He wasn't surviving a spell — he was erasing one. The opposition bowlers were left fielding, while the Hyderabad crowd was left screaming.

Fans still bring it up because it defined SRH's early identity. In a league where centuries are common, a hundred in under 50 balls is rare; a hundred in 44, with the kind of shot variety Warner displayed, is almost mythical. It is the innings that made 'Sunrisers' mean something specific: a team that would chase 200 with the same appetite as 150, and a captain who would lead from the front with a bat that never seemed to slow down.

Did You Know?

• Warner's 100* off 44 balls was one of the fastest centuries in IPL history when it was made in 2016, and it stood as a benchmark for years afterward.
• Warner was serving as Sunrisers Hyderabad's captain during that 2016 season, making the innings a statement of leadership as much as individual brilliance.
• The innings came against Kings XI Punjab, a side that had been competitive in the IPL, making the dismantling feel all the more emphatic.
• For SRH supporters, the innings is often referenced alongside the 2013 IPL title as one of the two pillars of the franchise's early golden era.