The Indian Premier League, since its inception, has been a hub of talent and the IPL has played a major role in increasing the level of cricket competition over the last decade.
Thus, Many young talents as well as veteran players have portrayed their prowess in the cricket league. From batting to bowling, the fans have witnessed numerous magnificent performances in all editions of the prestigious cricket competitions.
Similarly, we saw a spectacular knock in the match between Rajasthan Royals and Kolkata Knight Riders when Yashasvi Jaiswal completed his half-century in just 13 deliveries.
Without further ado, let’s take a look at the top Top 5 Fastest Half-centuries in IPL history
#5 Sunil Narine: 15 Balls
After decent performances in the last few matches, Kolkata Knight Riders decided to play Sunil Narine and Chris Lynn as the opening pair at M Chinnaswamy Stadium against Royal Challengers Bangalore in May 2017, and the rest is history.
After just six overs, Kolkata Knight Riders reached the score of 105, which is also the highest powerplay score in the history of IPL, following magnificent innings from Sunil Narine which was well supported by Lynn. Narine completed the benchmark knock in just 15 deliveries with the help of six fours and four sixes. Thus, Knight Riders won the match in the 16th over, with 29 balls remaining.
Consequently, Nickolas Pooran also completed his half-century against Royal Challengers Bangalore in 15 deliveries earlier this season. His innings played a major role in Lucknow Super Giants’ close win over Faf du Plessis’ Royal Challengers Bangalore on April 10.
#4 Yusuf Pathan: 15 Balls
Yusuf Pathan was a crucial figure in Kolkata Knight Riders’ batting line-up in 2014
Yusuf Pathan’s image of a lethal hard-hitting machine always made him a fan favorite and Pathan portrayed the batting style he was famous for in 2014 against Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Batting first, Daren Sammy’s side gave Knight Riders a target of 161 runs to chase. At Eden Gardens, Pathan had to come to the ground after his side lost two wickets at the score of 55 in eight overs.
The Sunrisers missed an early chance of dismissing the hard-hitting batsman, thus, he went on to annihilate Hyderabad’s chances of winning the match and going home with two points. After the 10th over, he caught the pace and started hitting boundaries over Parvez Rasool and Karn Sharma.
However, he went into absolute rampage mode when he smashed 26 runs in Dale Steyn’s over and completed his half-century in just 15 deliveries. Pathan failed to challenge his own record of the fastest century as he was dismissed by Karn Sharma in the 14th over.
He’s also on the second spot in the list of fastest centuries in the history of the Indian Premier League following his heroic 37-ball knock against Mumbai Indians in 2010 where he lashed top names of Lasith Malinga, Zaheer Khan, and Ryan McLaren.
#3 Pat Cummins: 14 Balls
Another Kolkata Knight Riders player in the list, Pat Cummins broke numerous records when he completed his half-century in only 14 deliveries against Rohit Sharma’s Mumbai Indians in 2022. When Tymal Mills dismissed Andre Russell in the 13th over, it seemed like Mumbai would record a much-needed win. However, Pat Cummins had something else on his mind.
In a matter of 10 minutes, the Australian turned the match upside down and stole the win for Kolkata Knight Riders from the hand of Mumbai Indians. He completed his 14-ball half-century with the help of 6 sixes and 4 fours.
Also, he played the shots against the likes of top bowlers such as Tymal Mills, Jasprit Bumrah, and Daniel Sams. Cummins burst into life in the 16th over, where Sams leaked 35 runs and bowled the third most expensive over in the history of the Indian Premier League.
After completing his fifty with a four on the ball by Sams in the 16th over, he broke Daniel Christian’s record for the fastest fifty by an Australian men’s cricket player. Pat Cummins also equalled the then-joint record of the fastest half-century in the history of IPL with KL Rahul.
#2 KL Rahul: 14 Balls
KL Rahul’s brilliant half-century helped Punjab Kings get over the Delhi Capitals’ challenge
In April 2018, KL Rahul scored the then-fastest half-century in the history of the tournament against Delhi Capitals (Delhi Daredevils at that time). Delhi, led by Gautam Gambhir posted a target of 167 for Punjab to chase in the day’s match. Thus, KL Rahul partnering with Mayank Agarwal came on the ground to start the Kings’ inning.
Rahul started the match in great form as he was hitting all the balls out of the boundary line with ease. Hence, after just three overs, the current Lucknow Super Giants’ skipper completed his half-century in just 14 balls with the help of six fours and four sixes.
He reached the unforgettable peak despite starting his inning on three dot balls of ace Blackcaps bowler, Trent Boult. However, the remaining three balls of Boult’s over met with two fours and a six.
Afterwards, Amit Mishra became the victim of Rahul’s aggressive batting as he smashed 24 runs off the right-arm leg-break bowler’s first over. However, he failed to turn the opportunity into gold as he got dismissed by Trent Boult’s slower delivery where he was trying to whip the ball on square leg.
#1 Yashasvi Jaiswal: 13 Balls
Rajasthan Royals’ Yashasvi Jaiswal broke the record of the fastest half-century in the history of the Indian Premier League after he went on a riot against Kolkata Knight Riders. Sanju Samson’s side was chasing a comparatively low target at Eden Gardens, where skipper Nitesh Rana surprisingly came to bowl the first over of the second innings.
He later revealed the reason behind him coming to bowl the first over saying that a part-time bowler can shock the opening batsman. However, the exact opposite of that happened and Jaiswal smashed two sixes in the first two balls of the over. He later went on to score three boundaries more as Rana leaked 26 runs in his first over.
The Royals lost the important wicket of Jos Buttler on a duck in the second over following a run out by Andre Russell, however, the young Indian batsman looked unfazed and kept batting in the aggressive mode. Thus, he completed his half-century in just the third over of the inning in only 13 balls with the help of three sixes and seven fours.
Jaiswal’s rampage didn’t end there as he kept hitting hard to get an early win for his side. He was joined by Rajasthan Royals’ Skipper, Sanju Samson in the chase, who also bashed the KKR bowlers without any sort of mercy. Hence, the pair of Jaiswal and Samson helped the Royals seal the victory in just 13.1 overs with 41 balls to spare. The 21-year-old played a magnificent unbeaten knock of 98 runs in 47 deliveries.
