India batsman Lokesh Rahul has set a new record of fastest fifty in Indian Premier League history in the tournament’s very 2nd game. The fastest ever fifty in the Twenty20 tournament helped Kings XI Punjab beat Delhi Daredevils by six wickets in the second match on Sunday.
Earlier,Ravichandran Ashwin used his resources excellently restricting Daredevils to a average total of 166 for 7
Chasing a target of 167 against Delhi Daredevils, Opener Rahul of Kings XI Punjab completed his half-century by hitting a huge six off the fifth ball of the third over of the Amit Mishra’s Ball. He made 50 of just 14 balls with the help of 4 sixes and 6 fours. Rahul gave a speedy start to his team before being dismissed for 51 off Trent Boult in the fourth over after Mayank Agarwal (7) fell cheaply. In the first over, Rahul smashed Boult for 16 runs.
Fastest IPL Fifties Under 19 balls
| Player | Balls | Team | OPP | Date |
| KL Rahul | 14 | KXIP | DD | 8-Apr-18 |
| Sunil Narine | 15 | KKR | RCB | 7-May-17 |
| Yusuf Pathan | 15 | KKR | SRH | 24-May-14 |
| Suresh Raina | 16 | CSK | KXIP | 30-May-14 |
| Sunil Narine | 17 | KKR | RCB | 8-Apr-18 |
| Kieron Pollard | 17 | MI | KKR | 28-Apr-16 |
| Chris Morris | 17 | DD | GL | 27-Apr-16 |
| Chris Gayle | 17 | RCB | PW | 23-Apr-13 |
| Adam Gilchrist | 17 | DC | DD | 22-May-09 |
| Chris Lynn | 19 | KKR | GL | 7-Apr-17 |
| Andre Russell | 19 | KKR | KXIP | 9-May-15 |
| David Miller | 19 | KXIP | RR | 20-Apr-14 |
| Robin Uthappa | 19 | RCB | KXIP | 16-Mar-10 |
The match contest was over within the Powerplay as KXIP raced away to 73 for 2 in six overs. Then Karun Nair scored a 33-ball-50 as the home team reached the target in 18.5 overs.
Only Yuvraj Singh couldn’t score big score as he made 12 of just 22 balls.
Prior to Rahul, the fastest Fifty record in IPL was in the name of Yusuf Pathan and Sunil Narine, both of them taken just 15-15 balls respectively. Punjab started chasing the target with the bang.
Before Rahul, Yusuf Pathan, playing for KKR, had scored 15 ball fifty against Sunrisers Hyderabad on 24 May 2014 at Eden Gardens. On 7 May 2017, playing on behalf of KKR, Sunil Narine scored 15 balls fifty against RCB at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.
Suresh Raina is the fourth fastest player in the history of IPL. The left-hander hit 16 balls fifty against Kings XI Punjab on 30 May 2014 at the Wankhede Stadium.
The fifth place in this list is ‘Universal Boss’ Chris Gayle, Sunil Narine, Kieron Pollard, Chris Morris and Adam Gilchrist all have scored fifty of 17 balls
