Rishabh Pant breaks Kapil Dev’s record of fastest Test fifty by an Indian

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 (7x4, 2x6) 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.

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.

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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.

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