Bengaluru: Flamboyant wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant on Sunday broke the legendary Kapil Dev’s 40-year-old record of fastest Test fifty by an Indian on the second day of the Day/Night match against Sri Lanka here.
The dashing left-hander cruised to his fifty in 28 balls (7×4, 2×6) in the 42nd over of Indian second innings when he hit a Praveen Jayawickrama delivery through the extra cover boundary.
India’s first World Cup-winning skipper Kapil Dev had cracked a 30-ball half-century against Pakistan in the Karachi Test in 1982.
“Rishabh Pant surpasses Kapil Dev to score the fastest 50 by an Indian in Test cricket… Take a bow, Rishabh,” posted BCCI in its Twitter handle.
FIFTY!@RishabhPant17 surpasses Kapil Dev to score the fastest 50 by an Indian in Test cricket. It has come off 28 deliveries.
Take a bow, Rishabh 👏💪💥
Live – https://t.co/t74OLq7xoO #INDvSL @Paytm pic.twitter.com/YcpJf2sp2H
— BCCI (@BCCI) March 13, 2022
Pant also set a world record for notching up the fastest fifty by a wicketkeeper-batter in Tests, bettering the efforts of Australia’s Ian Smith and former India captain MS Dhoni (both scored 34-ball fifty).
Pant, however, could not make it big and got out in the same score and over, giving Jayawickrama a return catch in the final delivery.
Shardul Thakur is the third in the list of fastest Test fifty by an Indian with his 31-ball half-century in the Oval Test against England last year.
Former India opener Virender Sehwag has scored a 32-ball 50 against England in Chennai in 2008.
