19th Asian Games: Dipendra Singh Airee surpasses Yuvraj Singh’s record of Fastest 50 in T20 cricket

Dipendra Singh Airee, Nepal’s middle order batter became the topic of discussion at the 19th Asian Games when he surpassed Yuvraj Singh in becoming the fastest batter to score a half-century in the shortest format of cricket.

During the first ever ICC T20 World Cup at South Africa, Yuvraj Singh made the record of scoring the fastest half-century in 12 balls against England. It was almost impossible to think that a 23-year-old batter from Nepal would be the one to break this record.

Dipendra Singh Airee's fastest ever fifty in T20i history:

6,6,6,6,6,2,6,6,6.

– A memorable day for Nepal cricket!pic.twitter.com/ih9cvYehCi

— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) September 27, 2023

Even Dipendra himself might not have thought about it. Before he arrived at the crease, his teammate Kushal Malla and Captain Rohit Paudel had put Nepal in a commanding situation. Paudel departed after smashing 61 off 27 with Nepal at 259/3/.

The 1st innings was to end in 11 balls with Dipendra Singh Airee playing 10 and making the most out of them. He finished off Nepal’s inning by scoring 52 including 8 sixes at a strike rate of 520. For the first time in T20 Cricket, a batter was able to register a 500+ strike rate with Malcolm Waller holding the previous highest strike rate of 430.

Highlight video of Dipendra Singh Airee, smashing the fastest international fifty in just 9 balls! 🇳🇵#Cricket #DipendraSingh #NepalCricket #Like #AsianGames #AsianGames2023 #NEPvMON #INDvAUS pic.twitter.com/1zuPXBDepu

— ICC Asia Cricket (@ICCAsiaCricket) September 27, 2023

All of that helped Nepal cement 314/3 and it was also made possible by Kushal Malla’s fastest T20 ton. Malla scored 137 of Nepal’s entire total in just 50 balls and at least 3 world records were made in that match itself.

At 19 years and 206 days, Malla became the 2nd youngest Batter to score a T20I century with French batter Gustav Mckeon, the youngest to achieve this feat.

Meanwhile, Nepal will play their next Asian games group stage match against Maldives on Sunday October 1. They are currently ranked 16 in ICC’s latest team T20I rankings and 15th in One Day Internationals.