Meghalaya's Akash Kumar Choudhary made cricketing history by hitting eight consecutive sixes on his way to scoring the quickest half-century in First-Class cricket history at the Pithwala Ground in Surat.
The lower-order batsman broke the previous record by just one ball, reaching the half-century in just eleven deliveries during a Ranji Trophy Plate Group encounter against Arunachal Pradesh.
After two more centurions in the middle order and a double century by Arpit Bhatiwara, Kumar arrived at number eight with the score already at 576/6. Kumar increased the score to 628/6 with the license to go for his shots.
Strangely, Meghalaya declared on that score after the batter hit his 50 and faced three dot balls after his destruction. Choudhary finished with a score of 50*(14). He and Ravi Shastri are the only two players in Ranji Trophy history to have six sixes in an over.
Choudhary's impact on the game didn't stop there. To make the day even more memorable, he took the opening wicket of the second innings with the new ball.
Wayne White held the previous record, taking 12 deliveries to reach his half-century in a County Championship match for Leicestershire against Essex. The record stood for 13 years. Remarkably, White's batting partner Ned Eckersley reached his half-century in just 14 deliveries during the same encounter. Together, they amassed 77 runs in just 20 deliveries.
The previous Ranji Trophy record belonged to Jammu & Kashmir's Bandeep Singh, who reached his half-century in 15 deliveries while facing Tripura in Agartala in 2015.
Misbah ul Haq holds the record for the fastest half-century in Test cricket, taking 21 deliveries to reach the milestone against Australia in Abu Dhabi.
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