Railways' Ashutosh Sharma breaks Yuvraj Singh's record of hitting the fastest 50 by an Indian
Railways middle-order batter Ashutosh Sharma broke Yuvraj Singh's record for the fastest fifty by an Indian man. Ashutosh scored his fifty off just 11 balls against Arunachal Pradesh in a 2023 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy match in Ranchi.
He got out on the very next ball, ending with a 12-ball 53 in his team's massive first-innings score of 246/5. His knock, which came at a jaw-dropping strike rate of 441.66, was laced with as many as eight sixes and a four.
Yuvraj held the record for 16 years since his 12-ball half-century against England in the 2007 T20 World Cup. In the match-winning knock, the left-handed batter smashed six sixes in an over against Stuart Broad. Chris Gayle (vs Adelaide Strikers in 2016) and Hazratullah Zazai (vs Balkh Legends in 2018) also have 12-ball fifties in T20s.
But that overall record for T20 cricket was broken earlier this month too when Nepal's Dipendra Singh Airee took only nine deliveries to reach the 50-run mark against Mongolia in the opening match of the 2023 Men's Asian Games.
Meanwhile, this was Ashutosh's only second 10th T20 in domestic cricket. He made his T20 debut in 2018 for Madhya Pradesh and has not played a T20 since 2019. This was his fourth 50 in the format. He has only played one List-A match, for Madhya Pradesh in 2019 and is yet to play a first-class game.
His half-century on Monday was preceded by a brilliant 51-ball 103 from Upendra Yadav. Railways were excellent in their defense of the massive target too, bowling out Arunachal Pradesh for just 119 in the second innings.
Ashutosh Sharma replaces recently-crowned Saurav Chauhan for the fastest Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy fifty
Less than 24 hours ago, Gujarat's Saurav Chauhan had scored his fifty off just 13 balls against Arunachal Pradesh. It was the fastest-ever in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.
However, Railways' Ashutosh Sharma is the new record holder, managing the feat in 12 deliveries against the same opposition.