Stats: Smriti Mandhana records the fastest Kia Super League fifty

Smriti Mandhana took the Kia Super League by storm while playing for the defending champions Western Storm as she turned up with an 18-ball fifty on Sunday. In the game against Loughborough Lightning that was reduced to 6 overs-a-side, Mandhana scored 52 in just 19 balls with five fours and four sixes. Her innings helped the team post 85/2 in the restricted six overs at the Taunton ground.

Mandhana shared a 71-run opening stand with Rachel Priest in only 4.5 overs. Interestingly, she broke the record for the fastest fifty in the KSL surpassing the record held by her partner. Priest hit a fifty off 22 against Lancashire Thunder and also a 26-ball fifty against Southern Vipers. This meant the top three fastest KSL fifties are all recorded by Western Storm players.

Mandhana was close to breaking the record on her debut last week as she scored 48 off 20 balls with three fours and five sixes against Yorkshire Diamonds. She followed it with a 21-ball 37 in the next game against Surrey Stars. In only three innings, the left-hander hit 11 sixes which is the most in a Super League season. Stafanie Taylor in 2016 and Priest in 2017 hit as many as nine sixes across seven innings.

Sophie Devine came close to Mandhana’s record in the run-chase for the Lightning as she scored an unbeaten 46 off 21 balls. Devine and Racheal Haynes batted through the six overs managing only 67 runs. However, Devine still holds the record for the fastest known fifty in the Women’s Twenty20 cricket history. The New Zealand all-rounder scored an 18-ball fifty in a T20I against India in 2015 at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore.

Devine, the NZ skipper in that match, scored a 22-ball 70 to help her side chase down 126 in only 12.3 overs. The fastest fifty in Women’s BBL is held by two players which at 22 balls. This means the Indian players are joint holders of the fastest T20 fifty in both Men’s and Women’s cricket. Yuvraj Singh and Chris Gayle share the record in Men’s T20 cricket off 12 balls. Mandhana also scored the fastest T20I fifty for India Women off 25 balls earlier this year.

Fastest fifties in Kia Super League:

(Stats as on July 29, 2018)

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