Pankaj Jaiswal slams the second fastest fifty in Ranji Trophy

Pankaj Jaiswal of Himachal Pradesh smashed the second fastest fifty in the history of Ranji Trophy in the group D encounter against Goa. He reached his half-century off just 16 balls and remained unbeaten on 63 off 20 deliveries as Himachal posted a mammoth total in their first innings. His knock was studded with four boundaries and seven gigantic sixes. They earned three crucial points on the back of the first innings lead and now sit pretty at the third position in the group.

The fastest Ranji Trophy half-century has been hit by Bandeep Singh from Jammu and Kashmir off mere 15 balls and achieved the feat against Tripura in 2015. Pankaj is just 1 22-year-old youngster and is a bowling all-rounder. But very few expected for him to play such a blitzkrieg innings which propelled his team’s score dramatically. He hails from a small town named Kangra in Himachal Pradesh.

What happened in the match?

After winning the toss the home team Himachal opted to bowl first and their bowlers proved the decision correct. Pankaj Jaiswal starred with the bowl as well and plucked out 4 wickets of the opposition conceding only 59 runs. Goa was bowled out for a paltry total of 255 on the first day itself. In reply, the hosts looked in control always as the opening pair added 237 runs for the first wicket. Priyanshu Khadri, Ankush Bains and Nikhil Gangta slammed centuries whereas Amit Kumar missed his ton by just 3 runs.

When Jaiswal came into bat, the bowlers of Goa were at his mercy as the score was 541/7 and he piled on the agony by his wonderful knock. They declared on a humongous score of 625/7 and took a lead of 380 runs over their opponents to seal three points. However, the batsmen of Goa resurrected themselves in the second attempt and scored runs at pace. The openers Swapnil Asnodkar and Sumiran Amonkar scored tons and avoided the innings defeat as the match ended in a tame draw.

Fastest Known fifties in #RanjiTrophy: (In Balls)

15 – Bandeep Singh
16 – PANKAJ JAISWAL
18 – Shakti Singh / Yusuf Pathan
20 – Vinod Kambli

— Sampath Bandarupalli (@SampathStats) October 16, 2017