Ishan Kishan has gave Mumbai Indians a flying start in their last league match of IPL 2021 against SunRisers Hyderabad in Abu Dhabi. While doing so, the diminutive wicketkeeper-batter scored a half-century in just 16 balls, which is the fastest for a Mumbai Indians player in the IPL. Kishan earlier jointly held the record of scoring the fastest fifty for MI along with Hardik Pandya and Kieron Pollard. All three batsmen, Pollard twice, had scored half-centuries off 17 balls each. This is also the fastest fifty of IPL 2021, which overshadows Pollard's effort from earlier this season.
The effort comes on a day when Mumbai Indians needed to post a massive total on the board and beat SunRisers Hyderabad by a margin of 171 runs or more to stand any chance of making it to the play-offs. Kishan hit 8 boundaries and 2 massive sixes on his way to bettering his own record.
The record for the fastest IPL fifty is in the name of Punjab Kings captain KL Rahul, who took just 14 deliveries to reach the mark against Delhi Capitals in 2018.
Kishan's effort is the joint third-fastest 50 in the history of IPL.
He was eventually dismissed for 84 runs off just 32 deliveries. The southpaw hit 11 fours and 4 sixes during his innings. Kishan shared an 80-run opening stand with MI captain Rohit Sharma, which came off just 33 deliveries as both batsmen took heavy toll on SRH's attack. Rashid Khan broke the partnership by dismissing Rohit for 18 runs.