RCB Captain Rajat Patidar Slams 17-Ball Half-Century, Equals The Great Adam Gilchrist For 'Fastest' Record

Rajat Patidar is in a different avatar this IPL. After leading Royal Challengers Bengaluru to a title win in IPL 2025, he is batting with aggressive intent in IPL 2026. Against Mumbai Indians in a high-voltage clash on Sunday, RCB skipper Rajat Patidar began his innings in the 12th over with a hat-trick of sixes off Mayank Markande. Runs continued to flow freely in the 13th over bowled by Shardul Thakur as Virat Kohli and Rajat Patidar collected a boundary each. Patidar then smacked a huge six over backward point, while the bowler also conceded three wides, making it a 23-run over. RCB brought up the 150-run mark in just 12.1 overs.

Patidar was merciless against Trent Boult as well, collecting a four and a six to bring up the 50-run partnership in just 14 balls. The RCB skipper continued his rampage, bringing up his half-century in 17 balls with four boundaries and five sixes, but eventually perished to Mitchell Santner. He was dismissed for a 20-ball 53, with four boundaries and five sixes, with Tilak Varma taking the catch. RCB were 194/3 in 16 overs.

Patidar's 17-ball half-century saw him equal Adam Gilchrist's 17-year-old record for the fastest fifty by a captain in IPL history.

Talking about the match, half-centuries from the top-order troika of Virat Kohli (50), Phil Salt (78) and Rajat Patidar (53) provided the impetus as Royal Challengers Bengaluru finished with a massive 240 for 4 against Mumbai Indians in their Indian Premier League match here on Sunday.

Salt and Kohli added 120 runs for the opening wicket, while Patidar and Tim David (35 not out off 16 balls) produced rapid knocks in the latter half of the innings to power the defending champions to a commanding total.

The proceedings began with Kohli unleashing a spectacular flick off the pads to hit a flat six off Trent Boult over deep square leg. While Kohli kept picking up the odd boundary, it was his partner Salt who took the initiative to accelerate the scoring rate.

Early on, the Englishman made room to dispatch fast bowlers Boult and Hardik Pandya for boundaries. Boult was later pulled into the stands with disdain for a six, while Mitchell Santner was pummelled for three consecutive sixes when the New Zealand captain erred with his lengths.

RCB's charge - with 50 coming up in just 4.2 overs - forced MI to bring back a wicketless Jasprit Bumrah for a second over in the powerplay, which is not the norm.

Aided by some ordinary bowling, Patidar came close to equalling the record for the fastest IPL half-century, before eventually completing it off 17 balls.

He began by lifting Shardul Thakur over cover for a four and then cashed in on poor lengths from Markande to smack the leg-spinner for three consecutive sixes. In no time, Patidar had raced to 34 off just nine balls.

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Topics mentioned in this article

Rajat Patidar IPL 2026 Royal Challengers Bengaluru Mumbai Indians Cricket