21-year-old Kamran Dhariwal has hit the joint-fastest fifty in the history of the T20 Vitality Blast as Gloucestershire chased down 182 from an impossible situation against Worcestershire in the Central and West Group on Friday.
Gloucestershire, who advanced to the quarterfinals with the win, were reeling at 73/4 in 10.3 overs when Dhariwal joined Jack Taylor at the crease. It was totally his show thereafter as he smashed his fifty off just 13 balls. In the 64-run stand between the two, captain Taylor scored just seven runs. Dhariwal also departed shortly after Taylor’s dismissal, but by then, he had put his team on course. In his innings of 70 off 22 balls, the right-handed batsman hit four fours and eight sixes.
In the long history of the Blast in England, there have been two more occasions when a batsman scored a fifty off 13 balls. Way back in the day in 2010, former England opener Marcus Trescothick, in Somerset colours, had beaten the living daylights out of the Hampshire attack. Then last year, Aneurin Donald, playing for Derbyshire against Yorkshire, had taken the same number of deliveries.
In the top five, Gerard Brophy and Sol Budinger also feature. Playing for Yorkshire in 2006, Brophy had taken 14 balls to score his fifty against Derbyshire. Last year, Derbyshire came in the line of fire once again as Budinger of Leicestershire took just 15 balls to reach the milestone.
Fastest ever in T20Is! Who has done it?
In the Indian Premier League earlier this year, Urvil Patel of Chennai Super Kings also equalled a league record after he took 13 balls to get to his fifty against Lucknow Super Giants. Yashasvi Jaiswal was the first batter to score a fifty off 13 balls in the league — three years before for Rajasthan Royals against Kolkata Knight Riders.
As far as the fastest fifty in T20 cricket is concerned, across internationals and franchise leagues or domestic leagues, Dipendra Singh Airee holds the record for Nepal. Against Mongolia in 2023, he took just nine balls to reach the milestone.
Among Test-playing nations, Yuvraj Singh of India holds the distinction. His fifty came off just 12 balls, against England in the 2007 T20 World Cup in South Africa, which the Indians went on to win. Ashutosh Sharma of Railways is the fastest fifty maker in India as in 2023, he took just 11 balls to reach the milestone against Arunachal Pradesh in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.
