Nepal's 16-year-old cricketer beats Tendulkar and Afridi to become youngest half-centurion
What's the story?
In the ongoing Nepal's tour to the United Arab Emirates, the visitor's batsman, Rohit Paudel scored a gutsy half-century in the second ODI to become the youngest male cricketer to score an international half-century.
At the age of 16 years and 146 days, Paudel surpassed legendary cricketers, Sachin Tendulkar and Shahid Afridi who held this record previously.
In case you didn't know
Nepal started its three-match ODI and T20I tour against UAE on Friday at the ICC Academy in Dubai. The hosts outplayed Nepal in the first ODI, posting a comprehensive 3-wicket win to take a 1-0 lead in the series.
However, Nepal made a strong comeback in the second match as they outplayed UAE, winning by a whopping 145 runs to tie the series 1-1.
The heart of the matter
After a dismal batting performance in the first ODI, Nepal batsmen looked in complete control in the second one. Paudel, the prodigal batsman mastered the innings as he top scored with 55 runs off 58 balls.
With this innings, the teenager became the youngest male cricketer to score an international half-century. He went past Sachin Tendulkar who had made 59 in a Test against Pakistan aged 16 years and 213 days and Shahid Afridi, who scored a half-century in his debut match against Sri Lanka at the age of 16 years and 217 days.
The right-handed batsman, playing just his third one-day international fired seven fours while making these runs.
What's next?
Rohit is being highly rated for his exceptional skills. The youngster once hit Indian speedster Kamlesh Nagarkoti for 24 runs in five balls in a U-19 one-dayer in 2016.
Meanwhile, by owning himself a name in the record books, Paudel would surely act as an inspiration for the upcoming generation of cricketers from Nepal.