Thirty-seven balls. On the night of 13 March 2010, in only the second match of the third IPL season, Yusuf Pathan reached a hundred off 37 deliveries at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai. It broke the IPL's fastest-century record by five balls, a record Adam Gilchrist had set at 42 balls in 2008. Eighteen seasons of ball-by-ball data later (2008 to 2025), only two batters have needed fewer balls. And of the ten fastest IPL hundreds, his is the only one made by a player whose team lost.
That is why this match is a legend. Rajasthan Royals were 66 for 4 in the tenth over chasing 213 against Mumbai Indians. Eight overs later they needed 40 off 18 balls with a centurion at the crease, and they lost by four runs. It is arguably the greatest innings ever played in a losing IPL cause, and the night Brabourne learned how quickly a T20 game can turn twice.
The Night Brabourne Shook: 13 March 2010
The setting: a Test ground hosting a T20 storm
The 2010 season opened with India back as host after the 2009 tournament had moved to South Africa. Mumbai Indians, captained by Sachin Tendulkar, played this early-season home game at the old Brabourne Stadium rather than the Wankhede, which was being rebuilt for the 2011 World Cup. Brabourne has short straight boundaries, a quick outfield and, in March 2010, a pitch with nothing in it for the bowlers. Tendulkar won the toss and batted.
Rajasthan were still the 2008 champions in the minds of their supporters, though 2009 had been a step back. Shane Warne led a side that again leaned on Graeme Smith at the top, Shaun Tait's pace and, above all, the Baroda all-rounder who had been player of the match in the 2008 final.
Mumbai's 212: Rayudu and Tiwary set the target
Mumbai started at more than ten an over. Sanath Jayasuriya made 23 off 14 and Tendulkar 17 off 11 before both fell lbw. Mumbai were 69 for 1 when the six-over powerplay ended. Tendulkar fell to the first ball of the seventh over, and two balls later Aditya Tare, who had made 23 off 13, was caught by Warne off Dimitri Mascarenhas. The score was 70 for 3.
What came next looked like the innings that would decide the match. Ambati Rayudu and Saurabh Tiwary added 110 for the fourth wicket in just over ten overs. Rayudu made 55 off 33 balls with six fours and two sixes. Tiwary made 53 off 33. When Rayudu was caught off Amit Uniyal from the last ball of the 17th over, the score was 180 for 4. Harbhajan Singh retired hurt and Ryan McLaren finished with 11 not out off five balls, taking Mumbai to 212 for 6.
At the time 212 was a big total. Before this match only four second-innings totals in IPL history had passed 200, and the record successful chase stood at 217 from 2008. Mumbai had a bowling attack to defend it: Zaheer Khan, Lasith Malinga, McLaren and the left-arm spin of Ali Murtaza.
The collapse that set the stage
Rajasthan's reply went wrong immediately. Swapnil Asnodkar was run out without facing a ball, and the score was 0 for 1. Naman Ojha made 12 before he was caught off Murtaza at 38 for 2. Smith, who had been scoring freely, chipped a return catch to Rajagopal Sathish from the third ball of the seventh over. At 40 for 3, Yusuf Pathan walked in.
He started slowly. After 14 balls he had 15 runs, with one six off McLaren and three dot balls straight after it. When Aditya Jhunjhunwala was bowled by Malinga from the second ball of the tenth over, Rajasthan were 66 for 4. After ten overs they had 69 and needed 144 more from 60 balls, 14.4 an over. In 2010 nobody in the ground expected the chase to survive.
Twenty-three balls, eighty-five runs
From his 15th ball onwards Yusuf scored 85 runs from 23 deliveries.
It started in the 11th over. Murtaza's left-arm spin went for three sixes in a row, from Yusuf's 15th, 16th and 17th balls. Sathish bowled the 12th over, and Yusuf hit six, four, four, six, then a wide, then another four. That over went for 26 and took him to 57 off 22 balls; his fifty had come with a six off his 21st ball. McLaren came back for the 13th over and was hit for three fours in four legal balls.
Mumbai took the pace off, and for a few overs it worked. Malinga and Zaheer conceded 12 runs in the 14th and 15th overs, and Yusuf went into the 17th over on 83 off 33 balls. Tendulkar gave the ball to Jayasuriya's part-time left-arm spin. Yusuf took a single, then hit his next three balls for six, four and six. The last of those brought up the hundred off his 37th ball, with nine fours and eight sixes.
After 17 overs Rajasthan were 173 for 4. They needed 40 from 18 balls, with Yusuf on 100 off 37 and Paras Dogra settled at the other end. The stand was already worth 107 runs, and Yusuf had made 86 of them.
Turn, turn, turn: the last three overs
Sathish bowled the 18th over. Off the first ball, Dogra drove and Yusuf, backing up at the non-striker's end, was run out with Sathish credited as the fielder. Rajasthan were 173 for 5. Dogra responded by hitting the next four balls for six, six, four and four, and took a single off the last. The over cost 21 and Rajasthan needed 19 from 12 balls.
Zaheer bowled the 19th over for seven runs: a wide and six singles and twos, with no boundary. That left 12 needed from Malinga's last over.
Malinga had already gone for only 15 runs in three overs on a night when almost every other bowler was being hit. Off his first ball Dogra was run out for 41 off 29, with Malinga credited as the fielder. Off the second, Uniyal was bowled. Warne scrambled a single and Mascarenhas ran a two. After a wide, a two and a single, Rajasthan finished on 208 for 7. Mumbai won by four runs.
Malinga's figures, 4-0-22-2, were the best in a match with 420 runs. Yusuf was named player of the match.
The Data Deep-Dive
Scorecard essentials
| Team | Score | Top batters | Best bowling |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mumbai Indians | 212/6 (20 ov) | Rayudu 55 (33), Tiwary 53 (33), Jayasuriya 23 (14), Tare 23 (13) | Mascarenhas 4-0-34-2, Uniyal 4-0-41-2 |
| Rajasthan Royals | 208/7 (20 ov) | Yusuf Pathan 100 (37), Dogra 41 (29), Smith 26 (22) | Malinga 4-0-22-2, Murtaza 4-0-46-1 |
Result: Mumbai Indians won by 4 runs. Player of the match: Yusuf Pathan. (Harbhajan Singh retired hurt and is not counted as a wicket in Mumbai's total.)
Yusuf's innings in four stages
| Stage | Balls | Runs | What happened |
|---|---|---|---|
| Balls 1–14 | 14 | 15 | Singles, one six off McLaren, five dot balls |
| Balls 15–22 | 8 | 42 | Three sixes in a row off Murtaza, 24 off five balls from Sathish |
| Balls 23–33 | 11 | 26 | Three fours off McLaren, then Malinga and Zaheer slowed him down |
| Balls 34–37 | 4 | 17 | 1, 6, 4, 6 off Jayasuriya to reach the hundred |
| Total | 37 | 100 | 9 fours, 8 sixes, run out at the non-striker's end |
Yusuf made 84 of his 100 runs in boundaries. The innings had only six dot balls, and five of them came in the first 14 deliveries.
The ten fastest IPL hundreds, 2008–2025
| Balls | Batter | Season | Match | Batter's team |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30 | Chris Gayle | 2013 | RCB v Pune Warriors | Won |
| 35 | Vaibhav Suryavanshi | 2025 | RR v Gujarat Titans | Won |
| 37 | Heinrich Klaasen | 2025 | SRH v KKR | Won |
| 37 | Yusuf Pathan | 2010 | RR v Mumbai Indians | Lost |
| 38 | David Miller | 2013 | Kings XI v RCB | Won |
| 39 | Travis Head | 2024 | SRH v RCB | Won |
| 39 | Priyansh Arya | 2025 | Punjab Kings v CSK | Won |
| 40 | Abhishek Sharma | 2025 | SRH v Punjab Kings | Won |
| 41 | Will Jacks | 2024 | RCB v Gujarat Titans | Won |
| 42 | Adam Gilchrist | 2008 | Deccan Chargers v MI | Won |
Source: Cricsheet ball-by-ball data, balls faced counted excluding wides. Yusuf's 37 balls stood as the record for three years until Gayle's 30-ball hundred in 2013 (read that story). It took 15 more seasons for another Rajasthan batter, the 14-year-old Suryavanshi, to beat it for the franchise.
How the chase moved, over by over
| After over | RR score | Needed | Balls left | Required rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | 39/2 | 174 | 84 | 12.43 |
| 10 | 69/4 | 144 | 60 | 14.40 |
| 13 | 131/4 | 82 | 42 | 11.71 |
| 17 | 173/4 | 40 | 18 | 13.33 |
| 18 | 194/5 | 19 | 12 | 9.50 |
| 19 | 201/5 | 12 | 6 | 12.00 |
| 20 | 208/7 | lost by 4 | — | — |
The 11th to 13th overs cost Mumbai 62 runs, and the 11th to 17th overs cost 104. Rajasthan scored 139 in the last ten overs to Mumbai's 111 and still lost, because two wickets fell at the two worst moments: Yusuf off the first ball of the 18th over and Dogra off the first ball of the 20th.
Legacy: What This Match Means Today
The template for the impact finisher
In 2010 a 37-ball hundred from number five looked like a freak event. Now every IPL team builds its middle order around this kind of hitting. The phrase "impact player" came later, but the job Yusuf did that night, coming in at 40 for 3 and treating a required rate of 14 as normal, is the job teams now pay crores for. When teams chase 220 in 2026, they are doing what Rajasthan nearly did in 2010, with better bats, flatter pitches and a deeper batting order.
Why Malinga's over still matters
The other lesson is about the bowling. Batting records get the headlines, but the result came down to Malinga bowling four overs for 22 when everyone else conceded more than ten an over. Mumbai went on to reach the 2010 final, losing to Chennai Super Kings by 22 runs, and Tendulkar won the Orange Cap with 618 runs. Over the next decade Malinga became Mumbai's most important death bowler, and this was the kind of match that made that role clear.
Reading a match that turns twice
This match also shows why win probability has to move with every ball. CricMind's Oracle is built on that idea: a model that had Rajasthan finished at 69 for 4 after ten overs would have looked foolish an hour later, and one that made them clear favourites at 173 for 4 with a centurion on strike would have looked just as foolish ten minutes after that. An honest model says how confident it is and changes its mind when the evidence changes. Brabourne 2010 is a good test for any live model, ours included: the upsets page is where we keep the calls that went wrong.
Three Takeaways
- The fastest hundred in a lost cause. Yusuf's 37-ball century was the IPL record from 2010 to 2013, and it is still the only hundred among the ten fastest in IPL history (2008–2025) made by a player on the losing side.
- Run-outs decided the match, not the hitting. Three of Rajasthan's seven wickets were run-outs: Asnodkar without facing a ball, then Yusuf and Dogra, both off the first ball of an over in the last three overs.
- Low economy in a high-scoring game wins matches. In a match with 420 runs, Malinga conceded 22 from 24 balls, took two wickets and ran out Dogra. Without that spell, Yusuf's innings would have won the game.
FAQ
Who scored the fastest century in IPL 2010?
Yusuf Pathan, for Rajasthan Royals against Mumbai Indians at the Brabourne Stadium on 13 March 2010. He reached 100 off 37 balls and was run out on exactly 100 with nine fours and eight sixes.
Did Rajasthan Royals win the match in which Yusuf Pathan scored his 37-ball hundred?
No. Rajasthan were 173 for 4 after 17 overs, needing 40 from 18 balls, but finished on 208 for 7 chasing 213. Mumbai Indians won by four runs. Yusuf was still named player of the match.
What was the fastest IPL hundred before Yusuf Pathan's?
Adam Gilchrist's 42-ball century for Deccan Chargers against Mumbai Indians in 2008. Yusuf's hundred beat it by five balls, and it stayed the record until Chris Gayle's 30-ball hundred for RCB against Pune Warriors in 2013.
Is Yusuf Pathan's 37-ball century still among the fastest in IPL history?
Yes. In the IPL ball-by-ball record from 2008 to 2025 it is joint third, level with Heinrich Klaasen's 37-ball hundred in 2025 and behind only Gayle (30 balls, 2013) and Vaibhav Suryavanshi (35 balls, 2025).
How did Mumbai Indians defend 212 against Rajasthan Royals in 2010?
Mostly through Lasith Malinga and two run-outs. Yusuf was run out at the non-striker's end off the first ball of the 18th over. Zaheer Khan gave away only seven in the 19th, and Malinga's final over removed Paras Dogra (run out) and Amit Uniyal (bowled) in the first two balls, conceding only seven when 12 were needed.
How many IPL centuries did Yusuf Pathan score?
One. The 37-ball hundred at Brabourne in 2010 is the only century of his IPL career, which ran to more than 150 innings for Rajasthan Royals, Kolkata Knight Riders and Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Who captained the two sides at Brabourne in 2010?
Sachin Tendulkar led Mumbai Indians, won the toss and chose to bat, and Shane Warne led Rajasthan Royals. Tendulkar went on to win the 2010 Orange Cap with 618 runs, and Mumbai reached the final.