Chris Gayle
West Indies legend Chris Gayle on Wednesday equalled the record for the fastest half-century in T10 cricket en route to a blitzkrieg knock at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi during the T10 Super League match between Maratha Arabians and Team Abu Dhabi.
Gayle, who headed into the match with a tally of 20 runs in 21 balls across four matches, averaging just five with a scoring rate of 5.7 per over, started off his innings with two dot balls before scoring 11 consecutive boundaries to equal his own record for fastest fifty in his cricketing career. He had previously acheived the feat of 12-ball fifty during a 2016 Big Bash League between Adelaide Strikers and Melbourne Renegades.
Gayle faced 22 balls in the knock with strikes of 0,0,4,4,4,6,6,6,6,4,6,4,6,1,6,6,1,4,2,1,1,6, eventually finishing with 88 runs.
Put to bat first, Maratha Arabians managed only 97 runs for the loss of four wickets with opener Alishan Sharafu top scoring with his 23-ball 33.
In reply, Team Abu Dhabi only lost one wicket, of Paul Stirling, scoring 11 off 5, in the second over. And the rest was a whirlwind of an innings from Gayle. Joe Clarke, the non-striker, contributed with only a six-ball five.
The nine-wicket win helped Team Abu Dhabi take the fourth spot in Super League points table.
