The record for the fastest fifty in cricket history belongs to Nepal’s Dipendra Singh Airee, who reached fifty in nine balls against Mongolia at the 2023 Asian Games in Hangzhou. No batter in any form of the game has done it faster.

Two players have since got there in 11: Ashutosh Sharma for Railways against Arunachal Pradesh at Ranchi in October 2023, and Akash Choudhary for Meghalaya against Arunachal Pradesh at Surat in the 2025-26 first-class season.

Fastest fifty in cricket history

Player Balls Match Venue Format Date
Dipendra Singh Airee 9 Nepal v Mongolia Hangzhou T20I 27 Sep 2023
Ashutosh Sharma 11 Railways v Arunachal Pradesh Ranchi T20 17 Oct 2023
Akash Choudhary 11 Meghalaya v Arunachal Pradesh Surat First-class 2025-26
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi 11 India A v Sri Lanka A Dambulla List A 2026
Yuvraj Singh 12 India v England Durban T20I 19 Sep 2007
Chris Gayle 12 Melbourne Renegades v Adelaide Strikers Melbourne T20 18 Jan 2016
Hazratullah Zazai 12 Kabul Zwanan v Balkh Legends Sharjah T20 15 Oct 2018
Sahil Chauhan 12 Estonia v Cyprus Episkopi T20I 17 Jun 2024
Abhishek Sharma 12 Punjab v Bengal Hyderabad T20 30 Nov 2024
Abidullah Kotwa 12 Austria v Hungary Szodliget T20I 28 Jun 2026
Wayne White 12 Leicestershire v Essex Leicester First-class 2012
Kaushalya Weeraratne 12 Ragama v Kurunegala Colombo List A 2005-06

Fastest fifties by balls faced, from ESPNcricinfo’s records. Figures to 5 September 2026.

The nine-ball mark has stood since 2023. Below it the picture has changed a great deal: seven of the twelve innings above were played in 2023 or later, and three of the four fastest have come since Airee’s.

Fastest fifty in T20 internationals

Airee’s nine balls is the T20I record as well as the overall one. Yuvraj Singh’s 12-ball fifty against England at Durban in the 2007 World T20 — the over in which he hit Stuart Broad for six sixes — stood as the record for sixteen years, and Austria’s Abidullah Kotwa matched it against Hungary in June 2026.

Player Balls Match Venue Date
Dipendra Singh Airee 9 Nepal v Mongolia Hangzhou 27 Sep 2023
Yuvraj Singh 12 India v England Durban 19 Sep 2007
Abidullah Kotwa 12 Austria v Hungary Szodliget 28 Jun 2026
Mirza Ahsan 13 Austria v Luxembourg Ilfov County 31 Aug 2019
Muhammad Fahad 13 Turkey v Bulgaria Sofia 12 Jul 2025
Tadiwanashe Marumani 13 Zimbabwe v Gambia Nairobi 23 Oct 2024
Jan Frylinck 13 Namibia v Zimbabwe Bulawayo 18 Sep 2025
Shujaat Rasool 13 Bahrain v Singapore Singapore 5 Jun 2026

Fastest fifty in ODIs

AB de Villiers took 16 balls to reach fifty against West Indies at Johannesburg in January 2015, on the way to a 44-ball 149. West Indies’ Matthew Forde matched the 16 balls against Ireland at Dublin in May 2025.

Player Balls Match Venue Date
AB de Villiers 16 South Africa v West Indies Johannesburg 18 Jan 2015
Matthew Forde 16 West Indies v Ireland Dublin 23 May 2025
Sanath Jayasuriya 17 Sri Lanka v Pakistan Singapore 7 Apr 1996
Kusal Perera 17 Sri Lanka v Pakistan Pallekele 15 Jul 2015
Martin Guptill 17 New Zealand v Sri Lanka Christchurch 28 Dec 2015
Liam Livingstone 17 England v Netherlands Amstelveen 17 Jun 2022

Fastest fifty in Test cricket

Misbah-ul-Haq holds the Test record with a 21-ball fifty for Pakistan against Australia at Abu Dhabi in November 2014, in the innings in which he also made a 56-ball hundred — then the joint-fastest in Test cricket alongside Viv Richards, and now joint-second behind Brendon McCullum’s 54. David Warner’s 23 balls against Pakistan at Sydney in 2017 is next, and Jacques Kallis and Ben Stokes share third on 24.

Player Balls Match Venue Year
Misbah-ul-Haq 21 Pakistan v Australia Abu Dhabi 2014
David Warner 23 Australia v Pakistan Sydney 2017
Jacques Kallis 24 South Africa v Zimbabwe Cape Town 2005
Ben Stokes 24 England v West Indies Birmingham 2024
Shane Shillingford 25 West Indies v New Zealand Kingston 2014
Shahid Afridi 26 Pakistan v India Bangalore 2005
Mohammad Ashraful 26 Bangladesh v India Mirpur 2007
Dale Steyn 26 South Africa v West Indies Port Elizabeth 2014

Rishabh Pant holds the India record with a 28-ball fifty against Sri Lanka in 2022.

Fastest fifty in first-class cricket

Akash Choudhary took the record in the 2025-26 Ranji Trophy season, reaching fifty in 11 balls for Meghalaya against Arunachal Pradesh at Surat. Wayne White’s 12-ball fifty for Leicestershire against Essex in 2012 had held it before that.

Player Balls Match Venue Season
Akash Choudhary 11 Meghalaya v Arunachal Pradesh Surat 2025-26
Wayne White 12 Leicestershire v Essex Leicester 2012
Clive Inman 13 Nottinghamshire v Leicestershire Nottingham 1965
Michael van Vuuren 13 Eastern Province B v Griqualand West Cradock 1984-85
Ned Eckersley 14 Leicestershire v Essex Leicester 2012
Khalid Mahmood 15 Gujranwala v Sargodha Gujranwala 2000-01

White and Ned Eckersley reached their fifties in the same Leicestershire innings against Essex in 2012, which is why that match appears twice.

Fastest fifty in List A cricket

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi holds it with an 11-ball fifty for India A against Sri Lanka A at Dambulla in 2026, on the way to 94. Kaushalya Weeraratne’s 12-ball fifty for Ragama against Kurunegala in 2005-06 had stood for two decades.

Player Balls Match Venue Season
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi 11 India A v Sri Lanka A Dambulla 2026
Kaushalya Weeraratne 12 Ragama v Kurunegala Colombo 2005-06
Thisara Perera 13 SL Army v Bloomfield Panagoda 2020-21
Rory Kleinveldt 14 Western Province v KwaZulu-Natal Durban 2010-11
Adam Hollioake 15 Surrey v Yorkshire Scarborough 1994
Salman Butt 15 National Bank of Pakistan v Lahore Eagles Lahore 2008-09

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Featured photo: AFP / ALEXANDER JOE