IPL 2023: Jaiswal smashes fastest 50 in IPL – ‘Some of the best batting I’ve seen in a while’

On a day that saw a Rajasthan Royals’s player create history in the first innings against Kolkata Knight Riders, 20-year-old Yashasvi Jaiswal found a way to set an even more mind-boggling record. In a matter of 13 balls, he scored the fastest fifty in the history of Indian Premier League.

Chasing a paltry total of just 150 at the Eden Gardens, Jaiswal’s hitting pretty much dictated the course of the game in the powerplay itself as Rajasthan Royals scored a colossal 78/1 within six overs. In general, Jaiswal has been in impeccable form, amassing 477 runs 11 innings at an average of 43.36. He also scored a 62-ball 124 against Mumbai Indians at Wankhede.

Jaiswal finished with a 47-ball 98 as RR chased the target down with 9 wickets and 41 balls remaining.

Striking at over 380, Jaiswal hit three sixes and seven fours in the thirteen-ball affair. The previous quickest 50 in the IPL, scored in 14 balls, was by KL Rahul in 2018 for Kings XI Punjab, a feat matched by Pat Cummins in 2022 playing for Mumbai Indians.

His astonishing innings was also the joint-second fastest in T20 history after India’s Yuvraj Singh clubbed a half century off only 12 balls against England at the 2007 World Cup in South Africa.

Here’s a look at the reactions for the match starting with the man who’s record he broke:

Jaiswal, who moved to Mumbai as a child and lived in a tent to pursue his cricketing dreams, hit 26 runs in the first over off Kolkata captain Nitish Rama.

The left-hander only missed out on a century because Rajasthan chased down the modest target of 150 with a massive 41 balls to spare, with Jaiswal unbeaten on 98 with 12 fours and five sixes off 47.

“I prepare well and trust myself to execute my shots. I know the results will come. I wanted to finish the game and winning the game was my motto,” the player of the match said afterwards.

“I was only thinking about the net run rate (for Rajasthan) and not my century,” he said.

The only hiccup was Jos Buttler being run out for a duck in the second over, but Rajasthan captain Sanju Samson (48 not out) joined Jaiswal to see the visitors home in the 14th over.

Jaiswal won a place in the Mumbai state team in 2019 and became the youngest batter, at 17 years and 292 days, to score a men’s domestic one-day double century.

The left-hander’s big break came when he was snapped up by Rajasthan Royals for $338,000 in the 2019 auction of the world’s richest T20 tournament, although his first three seasons were unspectacular.

The ease of the Rajasthan’s first victory in four matches meant that Joe Root, in only his second IPL match, again did not need to bat, although the former England captain bowled a tidy two overs for 14 runs.

Kolkata’s innings got off to a poor start with Trent Boult dismissing both Jason Roy for 10 and fellow opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz for 18. Venkatesh Iyer top-scored for the hosts with 57.

Kolkata had won the previous two games but the loss puts them in seventh place as the IPL nears the business end of the tournament. Rajasthan are third behind Gujarat Titans and Chennai Super Kings.

With AFP inputs