Railway's Ashutosh Sharma has broken India's legendary batter Yuvraj Singh's long-standing record and has now become the fastest Indian to score a half-century in T20 cricket history, taking just 11 balls to scale the milestone.
Ashutosh's remarkable feat came in the ongoing Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy while playing against Arunachal Pradesh at JSCA Oval Ground in Ranchi on Tuesday, October 17. Railways skipper Shivam Chaudhary won the toss and elected to bat first on a good batting deck and the decision paid dividends.
Wicketkeeper-batter Upendra Yadav made the most of the batting-friendly conditions on offer and scored a terrific ton. He punished the Arunachal attack and hit six fours and nine sixes during his 103*-run-knock off just 51 balls. He paced his innings really well and aggregated runs at a praiseworthy strike rate of 201.96.
Ashutosh, who came into bat after the fall of the fourth wicket, went hell for leather from ball one and gave no breathing space to the Arunachal bowlers. Ashutosh, 25, ripped Arunachal's attack to shreds and scored 53 off 12 balls. During his whirlwind knock, Ashutosh mostly took the aerial route as he hit eight maximums and a solitary four.
Ashutosh's knock acted as a catalyst and took Railways' total to 246 at the end of 20 overs. The Ratlam-born also created yet another record in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy as he became the player to record the highest strike rate in an innings with more than 10 balls faced. He struck at a staggering rate of 441.66 and proved too good for Arunachal's bowling attack which was mostly seen ducking for cover.
Yuvraj previously held the record for scoring the fastest fifty by an Indian when he scored an unrestrained 12-ball 50 against England during the ICC World T20 2007 in South Africa.
