Canada’s Yuvraj Samra became just the second player to score a century in the 2026 T20 World Cup, smashing his way to three figures in just 58 balls against New Zealand at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. Samra hit 10 fours and six sixes on the way to the mark. He went on to score 110 in 65 balls, adding one more four to his collection, before falling in the last over of the innings. Canada thus compiled 173 runs for the loss of four wickets batting first. Much of Samra’s innings came in a 116-run opening stand between him and captain Dilpreet Bajwa. The latter fell in the 14th over to Kyle Jamieson after scoring 36 in 39 balls. Samra ended Jamieson’s next over with a four that got him to the milestone, drawing wild celebrations from his teammates in the dugout and big cheers from the sizeable crowd at the Chepauk Stadium. Samra is the first player from an associate nation to have scored a century in the history of the men’s T20 World Cup. He is also the youngest centurion in the tournament’s history at the age of 19 years and 141 days. The previous record was held by Pakistan’s Ahmed Shehzad who was 22 years and 127 days old when he scored a century against Bangladesh in Mirpur in 2014. Samra rode his luck a little bit towards the end of his innings with New Zealand, including the incomparable Glenn Phillips, being guilty of some loose fielding. James Neesham dropped a regulation catch off him at long off last ball of the 18th over which resulted in the ball trickling over the line for another four. Samra was finally dismissed second ball of the last over by Jacon Duffy, holing out to Phillips at long leg. New Zealand are chasing a spot in the Super Eights on Tuesday. Before this, they lost to South Africa by seven wickets after winning two fairly one-sided games against Afghanistan and the United Arab Emirates. A win over Canada will take the Kiwis to six points from four games, enough to go through to the next stage.


