Railways batter Ashutosh Sharma smashes Yuvraj Singh's record of fastest fifty by an Indian in T20s

Yuvraj Singh's 16-year-old record of being the Indian batter to score the quickest fifty was smashed by Railways batter Ashutosh Sharma in the ongoing Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2023. He completed his half-century in just 11 balls against Arunachal Pradesh.

Ranchi: Railways' middle-order batter Ashutosh Sharma has registered his name in the history book by slamming an 11-ball fifty to break Yuvraj Singh's record of being the fastest Indian batter to reach half-century in T20s. Yuvraj had held the record for the last 16 years as he tore apart the English bowling attack in the inaugural T20 World Cup in 2007 completing his fifty in just 12 balls.

The 25-year-old came at the crease in the game against Arunachal Pradesh when the team were on 131/4 with five overs to go. He then played a whirlwind knock of 53 runs from just 12 balls smashing eight sixes and a boundary. A innings with a stunning strike rate of 441.66 was laced with four sixes in the cover and long-off region. The team amassed 115 runs in the last five overs and Railways put 246/5 on the scoreboard as a result.

Ashutosh had made his T20 debut in 2018 for Madhya Pradesh but this was his only second T20 for Railways. He has featured in one List A game and is yet to make a debut in first-class cricket. Yuvraj owned the record for the fastest fifty in T20 cricket till last month as Dipendra Singh Airee from Nepal broke in the Asian Games in the fixture against Malaysia. Yuvraj's knock was also remembered for his six sixes against Stuart Broad.