Scoring a half-century or a century is a milestone for any batsman in any format out there. It doesn’t matter if you are five years old or eighty years old, the relief of reaching this milestone certainly makes you feel good!.
There are two types of batters in the world!. The first types go in and play according to the situation of the game by taking their time. Whereas, the second type of batter just follows Virender Sehwag’s mantra, “see the ball, hit the ball”. In this article, we will be looking at the second type of batsman.
So without any further ado, here are the top 10 batsmen who have scored the fastest 50 in ODI cricket:
FASTEST 50’s IN ODI CRICKET:
Note: Cricketers are ranked based on how much they went on to score in the game
| Sl. No. | Name of the Player | Country | Against Opposition | Venue | Balls consumed for 50 | Went on to score | Date |
| 1 | Ab De Villiers | South Africa | West Indies | Johannesburg | 16 | 149 | 18/1/2015 |
| 2 | Martin Guptill | New Zealand | Sri Lanka | Christchurch | 17 | 93 | 28/12/2015 |
| 3 | Sanath Jayasuriya | Sri Lanka | Pakistan | Singapore | 17 | 76 | 7/4/1996 |
| 4 | Kusal Perera | Sri Lanka | Pakistan | Pallekele | 17 | 68 | 15/7/2015 |
| 5 | Shahid Afridi | Pakistan | Sri Lanka | Nairobi | 18 | 102 | 4/10/1996 |
| 6 | Brendan McCullum | New Zealand | England | Wellington | 18 | 77 | 20/2/2015 |
| 7 | Simon O’Donnell | Australia | Sri Lanka | Sharjah | 18 | 74 | 2/5/1990 |
| 8 | Glenn Maxwell | Australia | India | Bangalore | 18 | 60 | 2/11/2013 |
| 9 | Shahid Afridi | Pakistan | Bangladesh | Mirpur | 18 | 59 | 4/3/2014 |
| 10 | Shahid Afridi | Pakistan | Netherlands | Colombo | 18 | 55* | 21/9/2002 |
| 11 | Aaron Finch | Australia | Sri Lanka | Dambulla | 18 | 55 | 31/8/2016 |
Now that we know the players who have scored the fastest 50 in ODI Cricket, let’s look a bit into the significance of their knocks:
AB De Villiers (50 off 16 balls) (South Africa vs West Indies)
- AB De Villiers holds the record for scoring the fastest 50 in ODI cricket
- Mr. 360 went berserk in an ODI match against the West Indies in 2015.
- AB De Villiers scored a total of 149 runs off just 44 balls which included 9 fours and 15 sixes.
- South Africa went on to score a massive 439/2 batting first at Johannesburg.
- The West Indies on the other hand only managed to score 291/7 in their 50 overs
- South Africa won the game by 148 runs
Martin Guptill (50 off 17 balls) (New Zealand vs Sri Lanka)
- Martin Guptill is tied with three other players for scoring the second-fastest 50 in ODI cricket
- Sri Lanka won the toss and chose to bat in the ODI game in December 2015
- The Lankan Lions got bowled out for a mere 117 in 28 overs at Christchurch, NZ
- Martin Guptill made the second innings all about himself as he smashed 93 runs off 30 balls which included 9 fours and 6 sixes
- New Zealand won the game by 10 wickets in just 8.2 overs
Sanath Jayasuriya (50 off 17 balls) (Sri Lanka vs Pakistan)
- The Lankan Lions were pitted against Pakistan in the finals of the Singer Cup in Singapore in April 1996
- Pakistan batted first and was bowled out for 215 in 49 overs
- Sanath Jayasuriya started the Sri Lankan batting strongly by scoring 76 off 28 balls.
- Jayasuriya hit 8 fours and 5 sixes in the game
- But the rest of the Sri Lankan team folded to a total of 172 as they lost to Pakistan by 43 runs
Kusal Perera (50 off 17 balls) (Sri Lanka vs Pakistan)
- Kusal Perera scored one of the quickest half-centuries against Pakistan in the 2015 ODI series
- Pakistan batted first and scored 287/8 in their 50 overs
- Sri Lanka chased this total down by scoring 288/8 in just 48.1 overs
- Kushal Perera played a great opening knock by scoring 68 off just 24 balls
- This included 13 fours and 2 sixes and he was also voted as the player of the match
Shahid Afridi (50 off 18 balls) (Pakistan vs Sri Lanka)
- “Boom Boom” Afridi earned his nickname against Sri Lanka in a KCA Centenary Tournament game, Nairobi in 1996
- Batting first, Shahid Afridi scored a massive 102 off 40 balls as he hit 6 fours and 11 sixes in his innings
- Owing to this, Pakistan scored a mammoth total of 371/6 in 50 overs
- Sri Lanka were bowled out for 289 as the Pakistani side won the game by 82 runs
Brendon McCullum (50 off 18 balls) (New Zealand vs England)
- The Kiwi batsman made the most of the home game in Wellington during the 2015 World Cup
- Batting first, England were bowled out for just 123 runs
- Brendon McCullum made the most of this opportunity and slapped a whopping 77 off 25 balls
- This knock included a total of 8 fours and 7 sixes
- Courtesy of his efforts New Zealand won the game by eight wickets in just 12.2 overs
Simon O’Donnell (50 off 18 balls) (Australia vs Sri Lanka)
- The two teams faced off in the Austral-Asia Cup in Sharjah in 1990
- Australia batted first and scored 332/3 in their 50 overs
- Simon O’Donnell has a crucial part to play in this as he scored 74 off just 29 balls with 4 fours and 6 sixes
- Sri Lanka could only score 218 in reply as Australia won the game by 114 runs
Glenn Maxwell (50 off 18 balls) (Australia vs India)
- Glenn Maxwell made the most of his opportunity in an ODI game between the two nations in Bangalore in 2013.
- Batting first, India scored 383/6 in their 50 overs courtesy of a 209 by Rohit Sharma
- Australia was not able to chase the target, scoring 326 and eventually losing by 57 runs
- But Glenn Maxwell left his mark in the game by scoring 60 off 22 balls as his knock included 3 fours and 7 sixes
Shahid Afridi (50 off 18 balls) (Pakistan vs Bangladesh)
- The Pakistani hard hitter features in this list for the second time, this time for his swashbuckling knock against Bangladesh in the 2014 Asia Cup in Mirpur
- Having batted early, Bangladesh scored a credible 326/3 in their 50 overs courtesy of a 100 from Anamul Haque
- Shahid Afridi knew what he had to do as the Pakistani batsman smashed 59 off 25 balls in a knock that included 2 fours and 7 sixes
- Other batsmen around him also contributed as Pakistan won the match by 3 wickets
- Pakistan scored 329/7 in 49.5 overs to win this heart-racing game
Shahid Afridi (50 off 18 balls) (Pakistan vs Netherlands)
- Shahid Afridi has scored three fifties in 18 balls
- Hence, Afridi features for the third time in our list, this time for his fine knock against the Netherlands in Colombo in the 2002 ICC Champions Trophy
- Batting first, the Netherlands were bowled out for 136
- In reply Pakistan chased down the total in just 14.2 overs, winning by 9 wickets
- Shahid Afridi scored 55 runs off just 18 balls and remained not-out after scoring 4 fours and 6 sixes
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