SMAT: Railways batter Ashutosh Sharma breaks Yuvraj Singh’s record of hitting fastest T20 fifty by an Indian

Ashutosh Sharma, a rising star from Railways, has entered the record books by hitting the fastest fifty in T20 cricket by an Indian, surpassing Yuvraj Singh’s previous record. Sharma achieved this incredible feat during the 2023 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy match in Ranchi.

Playing for Railways, Sharma blazed his way to fifty runs in 11 balls, which was one ball less than the legendary batsman, Yuvraj Singh, who set the former record against England in the 2007 ICC T20 World Cup, when he scored fifty runs in 12 balls.

Sharma batted with an aggressive approach from the outset, striking six fours and four sixes during his blistering knock. His explosive batting helped his team post an imposing target for their rivals, reinforcing his growing reputation as a hard-hitting batsman.

Yuvraj’s 12-ball half-century in the 2007 T20 World Cup against England stood as a record for 16 years. During that explosive inning, the left-handed batsman incredibly hit six consecutive sixes off Stuart Broad. Notably, Chris Gayle achieved a 12-ball fifty against Adelaide Strikers in 2016, and Hazratullah Zazai also replicated this feat versus Balkh Legends in 2018.

However, this longstanding record in T20 cricket was recently shattered earlier this month when Nepal’s Dipendra Singh Airee astonishingly reached the 50-run mark in just nine deliveries during the 2023 Men’s Asian Games opening match against Mongolia.

In contrast, Ashutosh, who had only played his second T20 match in domestic cricket, made his T20 debut in 2018 for Madhya Pradesh but hadn’t participated in a T20 game since 2019. In the T20 format, this match marked his fourth half-century. He has only one List-A match under his belt, which he played for Madhya Pradesh in 2019, and he is yet to make an appearance in first-class cricket.