Hyderabad, Nov 30 (IANS) Punjab captain Abhishek Sharma unleashed carnage with a record-breaking half century enroute to his 32-ball century in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy against an experienced Bengal bowling attack here on Sunday at the Gymkhana Ground.

Abhishek was all guns blazing from ball one as he raced to a 12-ball half-century, the joint third-fastest fifty and joint second-fastest by an Indian in men’s T20 cricket. He hit five fours and five sixes to get to his fifty, conceding just one dot ball in the 12 balls he had faced to get to the landmark.

The 25-year-old left-handed batter became the fifth player to reach a fifty in just 12 balls in T20 cricket. His mentor, former India allrounder Yuvraj Singh, was the first to do so during the 2007 T20 World Cup match against England, where he famously hit six sixes in an over off Stuart Broad.

The fastest fifty in men’s T20 cricket was made by Nepal’s Dipendra Singh Airee against Mongolia at the Hangzhou Asian Games in September 2023. India’s Ashutosh Sharma is the second in the list with an 11-ball fifty for Railways against Arunachal Pradesh in the 2023–24 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.

Chris Gayle achieved this feat in the Big Bash League for the Melbourne Renegades against the Adelaide Strikers in January 2016. Later, in October 2018, Afghanistan’s Hazratullah Zazai matched the record while playing for Kabul Zwanan against Balkh Legends in an Afghanistan Premier League match in Sharjah.

Abhishek maintained his aggressive batting and reached a century in just 32 balls, striking 11 sixes and seven fours. However, he narrowly missed the record for the fastest men’s T20 century, which is held by Estonia’s Sahil Chauhan, who achieved it in 27 balls.

This is the third-fastest T20 hundred by an Indian. Abhishek already shares the record for the second-fastest T20 century by an Indian, having scored a 28-ball hundred, the same as Urvil Patel, who achieved it for Gujarat against Tripura in last year’s Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.

Opening the innings with Prabhsimran Singh, who made 70 off 35 balls, Abhishek finished with 148 off 52 deliveries. Punjab ended their innings at 310/5 in 20 overs, which is the second-highest total in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy history, behind Baroda’s 349/5 against Sikkim in Indore in December 2024.

–IANS

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