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Kapil Dev's 30-ball 50 against Pakistan in the Karachi Test in 1982 was the fastest by an Indian.
Flamboyant wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant bettered the legendary Kapil Dev's 40-year-old record for the fastest Test fifty by an Indian on the second day of the Day/Night second Test against Sri Lanka, in Bengaluru, on Sunday.
The dashing left-hander cruised to his fifty off just 28 balls in the 42nd over of India’s second innings when he hit a Praveen Jayawickrama delivery through the extra cover boundary.
The fifty was studded with 7 fours and 2 sixes.
India's first World Cup-winning skipper Kapil Dev had hammered a 30-ball half-century against Pakistan in the Karachi Test in 1982.
"Rishabh Pant surpasses Kapil Dev to score the fastest 50 by an Indian in Test cricket... Take a bow, Rishabh," posted the BCCI in its Twitter handle.
Pant also set a World record for notching up the fastest fifty by a wicketkeeper-batter in Tests, bettering the efforts of Australia's Ian Smith and former India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Both scored 34-ball fifties.
Pant, however, could not make it big, out on the same score and in the same over, after giving Jayawickrama a return catch off the final delivery.
Shardul Thakur is the third in the list of fastest Test fifty by an Indian after his 31-ball half-century in the Oval Test against England last year.
Former India opener Virender Sehwag scored a 32-ball 50 against England in Chennai in 2008.