Surat: In a jaw‑dropping display of hitting prowess, Meghalaya’s fast‑bowler‑turned‑batsman Akash Kumar Choudhary etched his name into the history books during a Plate‑Group match of the Ranji Trophy against Arunachal Pradesh at the CK Pithawala Ground in Surat. He brought up a half‑century in just 11 balls, the fastest recorded fifty in first‑class cricket.
Choudhary’s assault was marked by a sequence of eight consecutive sixes. After two singles and a dot ball, he launched into a fierce barrage off the bowling of Limar Dabi: six sixes in one over and two more immediately following.
Remarkably, Choudhary is primarily known as a seam bowler, making this batting feat all the more eye‑catching. His previous first‑class batting average stood at 14.37 across the 30‑odd matches he had played.
The knock not only set a new benchmark for speed in first‑class cricket but also transformed what was a routine domestic fixture into a spectacle. The feat has brought fresh attention to the Plate Group of the Ranji Trophy and renewed hopes of uncovering unheralded talent from India’s smaller cricketing regions.
For Choudhary, the achievement may well be a career‑defining moment — an explosion of power and precision that could alter his role from a bowler to an impactful all‑rounder in the domestic circuit. The cricketing fraternity will now wait to see if this record knock is a one‑off or the beginning of a new chapter in his journey.