Stats: Fastest fifties in First-Class cricket ft. Akash Kumar Choudhary

Published - 09 Nov 2025, 20:30 IST | Updated - 09 Nov 2025, 20:25 IST

Meghalaya's Akash Kumar Choudhary set the cricketing fraternity abuzz with his astonishing act of smashing the fastest fifty in First-Class cricket. The batter reached the landmark of just 11 balls in the Ranji Trophy 2025-26's Round 4 match against Arunachal Pradesh in Surat. He achieved the landmark by smashing eight sixes of consecutive deliveries on the second day of the encounter to etch his name in history books.

In the process, he also became only the second player in Ranji Trophy's history to hit six sixes in an over. Notably, the first cricketer to do so was former India all-rounder and coach Ravi Shastri, who had done so while playing for Bombay (now Mumbai). However, several others have done it other formats and in international cricket as well, with Yuvraj Singh, Herschelle Gibbs, and Kieron Pollard being the most famous ones.

In the process of hitting the half-century off just 11 balls, Akash Kumar broke the record held by Wayne White since 2012. The Leicestershire batter had held the record for well over a decade, getting to the landmark off just 12 deliveries in a game against Essex. Former cricketer Michael van Vuuren is next on the list with a fifty off just 13 balls against Griqualand West in Cardock, the fastest at the time when he did it in 1984-85.

Meghalaya’s Akash Kumar hits fastest first-class fifty

Thus far, the record for the fastest fifty by an Indian in First-Class cricket was held by Bandeep Singh, who had achieved the feat almost a decade ago for Jammu & Kashmir. He had jointly held the record alongside Gujranwala's Khalid Mahmood, who had also reached his fifty in just 15 balls, way back in 2000-01 against Sargodha, while playing at home.