During Thursday’s match between Rajasthan Royals and Kolkata Knight Riders, Yashasvi Jaiswal broke the record for the quickest 50 in the history of the Indian Premier League by reaching the milestone in just 13 balls.
On his way to his 50 in front of an astonished Eden Gardens crowd, Jaiswal struck six fours and three sixes, breaking the previous record of 14 balls held jointly by KL Rahul and Pat Cummins. Jaiswal’s performance set a new record.
The young man, who had migrated to Mumbai as a kid and been forced to live in a tent in order to pursue his aspirations of being a professional cricket player, scored 26 runs in the first over bowled by the captain of Kolkata.
The left-handed batsman came close to scoring a century, but Rajasthan was able to reach their small goal of 150 with a mammoth 41 balls to spare thanks to the undefeated performance of Jaiswal, who scored 98 runs off just 47 balls, hitting 12 fours and five sixes.
“I put in a lot of work to prepare, and I have faith in my ability to make the shots. I am confident that the outcomes will be obtained. The player who won the match commented later, “My goal was to finish the game, and winning the game was my motto.”
“I was only thinking about the net run rate (for Rajasthan), and not my century,” he added. “I was only thinking about my century.”
The only problem that occurred was when Jos Buttler was run out in the second over without scoring any runs. However, Rajasthan skipper Sanju Samson (48 not out) partnered Jaiswal to see the visitors home in the 14th over.
After India’s Yuvraj Singh scored a half century off only 12 balls against England in the 2007 World Cup in South Africa, Jaiswal’s remarkable performance was also the second quickest in the history of Twenty20.
At the age of 17 years and 292 days, Jaiswal broke the record to become the youngest batsman to achieve a domestic one-day double century. He did this while competing for a spot on the Mumbai state squad in 2019.
Even though the left-handed player’s first three seasons weren’t particularly impressive, his big break came when he was purchased by Rajasthan Royals for the price of $338,000 in the 2019 auction of the world’s richest Twenty20 event.
The previous record for the quickest 50 in the IPL was set by Rahul in 2018 for Kings XI Punjab. Cummins, playing for Mumbai Indians in 2022, matched Rahul’s performance by reaching the milestone in 14 balls.
Joe Root, who was playing in only his second Indian Premier League encounter, did not need to bat again due to the ease with which Rajasthan won their first game in four attempts, despite the fact that the former England captain bowled a crisp two overs for 14 runs.
Trent Boult was responsible for the dismissal of both Jason Roy and Rahmanullah Gurbaz in the opening pair for Kolkata’s innings. Roy scored 10 runs, while Gurbaz scored 18. With 57 points, Venkatesh Iyer was the leading scorer for the home team.
Despite the fact that Kolkata having won their previous two matches in a row, they now find themselves in seventh place as the IPL draws closer to its decisive stages. The Gujarat Titans and the Chennai Super Kings are both ahead of the Rajasthan Royals.