A Plate Group match of the Ranji Trophy is underway in Surat. Meghalaya is playing against Arunachal Pradesh. Sunday was the second day.
Meghalaya declared their first innings at 628 for 6.
Coming in to bat at number 8, 25-year-old Akash Chaudhary performed brilliantly. He remained not out after scoring 50 runs in 14 balls.
Who is Akash Chaudhary?
Akash plays for Meghalaya. This 25-year-old right-handed batsman has played 30 first-class matches so far. He also played for North East Zone in the Duleep Trophy this year.
He has experience in 28 List A and 20 T20 matches. His average was low in the past, but everything changed in this match against Arunachal.
Akash smashes eight consecutive sixes, new record
Akash smashed a half-century in just 11 balls. This is the fastest fifty in first-class cricket.
The previous record was held by England’s Wayne White, who reached 50 off 12 balls in 2012. Akash achieved this feat in an over bowled by Limar Daby.
The first ball was a dot, then two singles. Then the next eight balls were consecutive sixes. Akash came on when Meghalaya were at 576/6.
Previously, he had only two fifties in his first-class career; he smashed every ball of Limar Daby in the air in the 126th over.
Breaks record after Sobers and Shastri
Akash now becomes only the third player to hit six consecutive sixes in first-class cricket. The first was Sir Garfield Sobers in 1968.
Sobers was the first to record the feat of hitting six sixes in an over in August 1968 when he hammered Malcolm Nash during a county match between Nottinghamshire and Glamorgan.
Then former Indian all-rounder and head coach Shastri did the same during a Ranji Trophy match at the Wankhede Stadium in 1984-85.
Shastri, playing for Bombay against Baroda, had hit six consecutive sixes off Tilak Raj. Now Akash has hit eight, which is a completely new record.
Arunachal’s first innings was reduced to just 73 runs. They were forced to follow on. In the second innings, they are 29/3.
They are still 526 runs behind. The match is in Meghalaya’s control. Everyone will remember this blast from Akash.
