In three of the four Ranji Trophy Quarter-Final clashes, batters have dominated the proceedings. On Day 3 of Bengal's clash against Jharkhand, middle and lower order batters frustrated the bowlers. However, the shortest period of frustration came when no.9 batter Akash Deep walked into the middle. The 25-year-old tailender went on a six-hitting spree and scored the fastest half-century in the first innings of history of First-Class cricket.
Previous record holders
Akash, who did not get a chance to bat for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in recently-concluded Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022, broke the 10-year-old record held by West Indies opener Lendl Simmons. Playing for Trinidad and Tobago against Barbados in 2012, Simmons had hit the fastest fifty in the first innings of a four-day game from just 20 deliveries.
The top four list of players with fastest fifties in first innings of First-Class cricket also includes Jandre Coetzee who took 21 deliveries to score 50 runs. He did it in 2012 for North West against Free State. The previous fastest fifty record was created in 1986 by Steve Maguiness. For Wellington, he scored a half-century in 22 deliveries against Canterbury.
License to go big
It was clear that Akash walked out to bat with the idea to score quick runs for his team. With declaration drawing near, he decided to go ballistic against already tired Jharkhand bowlers who have been on the field for more than two days. He did most of the scoring in the 59-run partnership off just 28 deliveries for the ninth-wicket with Sayan Mondal.
Dealing mostly in sixes, he walked back to the pavillion unbeaten on 53 off 18 deliveries with a strike rate of 294.44. It was also his maiden ODI fifty across formats. His previous highest score was 44.
The quickfire 50 helped Bengal post a mammoth total of 773/7 before skipper Abhimanyu Easwaran declared the innings. His partner Mondal also scored his half-century and remained not out for 53 off 85 deliveries.
