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Gujarat's 23-year-old batter Saurav Chauhan broke the record for the fastest half-century in the history of India's domestic T20 tournament Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. Chauhan scored his half-century from just 13 balls to break the previous record held by Meghalaya's Abhay Negi who scored a 14-ball fifty in the 2019 edition against Mizoram.
Chauhan scored 61 runs from just 18 balls featuring five fours and six sixes. In the run chase of 127 against Arunachal Pradesh, Chauhan walked into bat in the third over after both openers departed. The 23-year-old made the most of powerplay overs and smashed the bowlers all around the park. Myengdung Singpho and Aryan Sahani conceded 26 and 23 runs respectively in their one-over spell.
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Chauhan shared an 86-run partnership for the third wicket from just 28 balls with Umang Kumar. Chauhan got bowled by Techi Neri in the seventh over of the innings. But it turned out to be a consolation wicket as Gujarat chased down the total in just 7.4 overs. The big win also helped Gujarat to boost their net run rate (NRR) and take a headstart over other teams in Group C.
Earlier, Arunachal Pradesh skipper Neelam Obi won the toss and opted to bat first at JSCA Oval Ground, Ranchi. Few Arunachal Pradesh got starts but could not convert them into big scores. Skipper Obi was the top scorer with 29 runs from 22 balls. Arzan Nagaswalla, Chitan Gaja, and Ravi Bishnoi picked up two wickets each to restrict Arunachal Pradesh to a below par total of 126/8. Leg-spinner Bishnoi was the most economical of the lot as he conceded just 15 runs from his quota of four overs.
Chauhan has good numbers in T20 cricket. The left-handed batter has scored 274 runs from 12 innings at an average of 27.40. He has three half-centuries to his name. Also, his strike rate is an impressive 146.52. It will be interesting to see if Chauhan continues to score throughout the tournament as it will keep him under the radar of Indian Premier League (IPL) franchises with a few months to go in the auction.
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