Nepal batter Dipendra Singh Airee holds the record for the fastest fifty in the history of cricket. The youngster accomplished the feat in Nepal’s match against Mongolia in the 2023 Asian Games match on September 27 at the Zhejiang University of Technology Cricket Field in Hangzhou.
Airee racked up the fifty off a mere 9 balls and showed what he was capable of with the bat in hand. He broke Yuvraj Singh’s record for the fastest fifty in the history of T20Is. Yuvraj made the record back in 2007 in the T20 World Cup match against England at the Kingsmead in Durban.
Who holds the record for the highest individual T20 score?
Yuvraj took Stuart Broad apart and raced to his half-century off 12 balls. The southpaw had also become the first batter to hit 6 sixes in an over in T20 cricket. As far as Airee was concerned, he also broke the record for the fastest fifty in T20 cricket.
Yuvraj, former West Indies batter Chris Gayle and Afghanistan left-hander Hazratullah Zazai held the record. Gayle scored a 12-ball fifty while playing for the Melbourne Renegades against the Adelaide Strikers in the Big Bash League (BBL) 2015-16.
Finn Allen 🤝 Hazratullah Zazai
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The New Zealand opener has equalled the record for the most sixes in a T20I innings ☄️ pic.twitter.com/DLPMaOOfuW
Zazai, on the other hand, equalled Gayle and Yuvraj’s then record while playing for Kabul Zwanan in their match against Balkh Legends in the Afghanistan Premier League at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium.
Dipendra Singh Airee: Fastest fifty against Mongolia
Airee was unstoppable as the Mongolian batters had very little clue about how to stop him. Airee came to bat in the 19th over after Mungun Altankhuyag dismissed skipper Rohit Paudel, who made 61 runs off 27 balls with 2 fours and 6 sixes.
From there on, Airee threw the kitchen sink at everything and helped Nepal put up a massive score of 314 for 3 after being put in to bat first. In the first 5 balls that he faced, he tonked Altankhuyag for 5 sixes in a row.
Kusal Malla, who broke Rohit Sharma’s record for the fastest hundred in T20Is, gave Airee the strike back by picking up a single in the very first ball of the 20th over. Airee did not look back from there and took Luvsanzundui Erdenebulgan to the cleaners.
In the penultimate ball of the over, Airee hit the bowler for a six to bring up his half-century in no time. In the last ball, he took a single and stayed not out on 52 runs off 10 balls with the help of 8 sixes. The fact that he played at a strike-rate of 520 showed how brutal he was with the bat in hand.
Airee also made sure that Nepal recorded the highest team total in a T20 match. Nepal became the first team to score above 300 in a T20. The record for the highest team score was earlier held by Afghanistan, who earlier scored 278 for the loss of 3 wickets against Ireland back in February 2019 at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium in Dehradun.
After the likes of Malla, Airee and Paudel put on an absolute show with the bat in hand, Nepal bowlers stepped up big time and bowled the opponents out for 41 in 13.1 overs. Nepal won the match by a mammoth margin of 273 runs.
Nepal also broke the record for the biggest win by margin of runs in the history of T20Is. The Czech Republic, earlier, held the record after they defeated Turkey by 257 runs back in August 2019 in the Continental Cup match at the Moara Vlasei Cricket Ground in Ilfov County.
Airee has an impressive record in T20 cricket since he made his debut back on July 29, 2018 against the Netherlands at the iconic Lord’s Cricket Ground in London. In 56 T20s, Airee has scored 1372 runs at an average of 38.11 with a century and 7 half-centuries to show for his efforts.
With an average of 38.11 and a strike-rate of 142.61, Airee has been consistent for Nepal in the shortest format. Airee got his top score of 110 off 57 balls against Malaysia back on April 2, 2022 in the Nepal Tri-Nation T20I series match at the Tribhuvan University International Cricket Ground in Kirtipur.
Ashutosh Sharma shines for Railways
Among the ones, who have made the fastest fifties in the history of cricket, Ashutosh Sharma features in the list. Playing for Railways in the Syed Mushtaq Ali 2023 match against Arunachal Pradesh at the JSCA Club Ground in Ranchi, Ashutosh raced to a half-century off 11 balls.
Sharma scored 53 runs off 12 balls with the help of a four and 8 sixes. He played at a strike-rate of 441.66 as Railways scored 246 for the loss of 5 wickets. Thereafter, Railways bowled Andhra out for 119 in 18.1 overs to win the match by a huge margin of 127 runs.
Wayne White holds the record for the fastest fifty in first-class cricket. Back in 2012, White scored a 12-ball fifty while playing for Leicestershire in their match against Essex in the County Championship Division at the Grace Road in Leicester. The right-handed batter hit 4 fours and 4 sixes.
What happened on January 18!
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In 2015, in an amazing game against West Indies in Johannesburg, AB de Villiers did something incredible in cricket. He scored the fastest century ever, taking only 31 balls to reach 100 runs. pic.twitter.com/S34zW93pdy
On the back of his knock, Leicestershire set Essex a big target of 270 to chase down. The match ended in a draw after Essex finished their innings at 30 for 2.
MK van Vuuren scored a half-century off 13 balls when Eastern Province faced Griqualand West back in 1984-15 ay the Standard Cricket Club in Cradock.
Kaushalya Weeraratne holds the record for the fastest fifty in List A cricket. Back in 2005, he scored a 12-ball half-century for Ragama Cricket Club against Kurungela Youth Cricket Club. Thisara Perera, Rory Kleinveldt and Adam Hollioake.
In ODIs, AB de Villiers holds the record after he scored a half-century off 16 balls for South Africa against the West Indies at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg. In the same match, he also recorded the fastest hundred in ODIs. He scored 149 runs off 44 balls with 9 fours and 16 sixes.
