Ranchi: Railways’ middle-order batter, Ashutosh Sharma on Tuesday broke former India batter Yuvraj Singh’s 16-year-old record for the fastest fifty by an Indian. Ashutosh smashed his half-century in 11 balls in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 tournament, in a Group C clash against Arunachal Pradesh in Ranchi.
The 25-year-old, playing only his second match for Railways, walked into the middle with the score of 131/4 with five overs remaining. With the help of 8 sixes and one four, Ashutosh cruised to 53 off 12 deliveries in his record-breaking inning, striking with a 441.66 strike rate.
However, he got out of the penultimate over but his inning helped the Railways to finish with a score of 246 for 5.
Ashutosh made his T20 debut way back in 2018 for Madhya Pradesh and last played the format in 2019. He has featured in just one 50-over game, for MP also in 2019, and is yet to make his first-class debut.
Yuvraj had held the record for the fastest fifty in T20 cricket overall for 16 years before it was broken just last month by Dipendra Singh Airee from Nepal against Mongolia in the Asian Games in Hangzhou.
(IANS)
