Rishabh Pant broke MS Dhoni’s record of scoring the fastest half century against Mumbai Indians to guide Delhi Capitals to a comfortable victory in their first match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2019 on Sunday.
Pant looked extremely comfortable against the Mumbai Indians bowling attack and was able to reach his fifty in just 18 balls.In the process, he surpassed Chennai Super Kings skipper Dhoni’s 20-ball fifty that he scored in 2012.
However, that is not the fastest fifty in IPL as KL Rahul leads the list having reached the mark in 14 balls last season. Sunil Narine and Yusuf Pathan hold the second spot with fifties in just 15 deliveries.
With the World Cup 2019 just around the corner, the IPL is extremely important for Pant to secure his spot in the India squad and the youngster started the proceedings with a brilliant knock. He ended his innings with 78 off just 27 balls with the help of seven boundaries and seven sixes at an astronomical strike rate of 288.89.
Pant’s blazing half-century guided Delhi Capitals to a 37-run win over Mumbai Indians.
Sent into bat, Delhi were helped by Colin Ingram’s 32-ball 47 and Shikhar Dhawan’s 43 at the Wankhede Stadium, before Pant smashed the Mumbai bowlers for seven sixes and as many fours to power them to 213 for six.
In reply, MI were stopped at 176 in 19.2 overs as an injured Jasprit Bumrah failed to turn up with the bat. Veteran Yuvraj Singh top-scored for the hosts with 53 off 35 balls.
