Adam Gilchrist is no longer the record holder of the fastest half century in the Indian Premier League. His record was broken yesterday by the Kolkata Knight Riders batsman Yusuf Pathan who smashed his 50 in just 15 balls to guide his team to an unbelievable win against the Sunrisers Hyderabad.
The Knight Riders were chasing down a target of 161. It was not such a difficult job considering that 8 runs per over is easily achievable these days, but, the thing was that KKR needed to score those runs in just 15.2 overs if they had to finish the preliminary stage at no. 2 in the table.
Finishing at the first or the second position is very important in the IPL because the teams doing so get two chances in the playoffs. They take on each other in the first qualifier. If they win, they go straight to the final. If they lose, they are given one more game against the winner of the eliminator. So, every team wants to come at the top 2 positions.
For KKR to do so, 161 runs were required off just 92 balls which was not looking possible at one point of time. But, as soon as Yusuf walked onto the park, the scenario changed. He started smashing the bowlers out of the park right from the word go. He didn’t spare even Dale Steyn.
The boundaries were just flowing while he was out there. He was caught at deep midwicket at the score of 72, but, till then, he had taken his team very close to the target with plenty of deliveries left.
Adam Gilchrist had set up the record of the fastest IPL fifty in 2009. He had taken just 17 balls to reach 50 during the semi final match of that edition against the Delhi Daredevils.