It was a Yashasvi Jaiswal show at the Eden Gardens as the youngster broke the record for the fastest fifty in the Indian Premier League (IPL) during the match against Kolkata Knight Riders on Thursday. Jaiswal looked in superb touch as he scored his half century in 13 balls – one ball less than the previous record held by KL Rahul and Pat Cummins. It was enough to clinch the victory for Rajasthan Royals and it was Rahul who led the tributes for the opener on social media.
Yashasvi Jaiswal continued his sensational run in the IPL by smashing the fastest fifty in tournament history after Yuzvendra Chahal became the all-time leading wicket-taker as Rajasthan Royals cruised to a nine-wicket win over Kolkata Knight Riders to resurrect their playoff hopes on Thursday.
Chahal became IPL's leading wicket-taker before completing a brilliant 4/25 as RR restricted KKR to a below-par 149/8 at the Eden Gardens On a day KKR batters struggled to time the ball, 21-year-old Jaiswal showed the way by bringing up fastest fifty in the history of IPL in just 13 balls, bettering the previous record held by KL Rahul and Pat Cummins (14 balls each).
With the modest chase, Jaiswal remained two runs shy of a century (98 from 47 balls), a knock studded with 12 fours and five sixes as RR cantered to victory 13.1 overs.
Samson gave fine support to the southpaw with a 48 not out from 29 balls as the duo shared an unbroken match-winning partnership of 121 runs off just 69 balls.
The win with 41 balls to spare also took them to third spot (12 points from 12 matches), giving a massive boost to their net run-rate (0.0633) as the play-off race heats up.
It is all but over for KKR who slipped to seventh place (10 points, 12 matches).
(With PTI inputs)