WATCH: Rishabh Pant smashes his way to the fastest Test fifty by an Indian batter

Rishabh Pant has been at his lethal best with the bat in hand during India’s second Test against Sri Lanka at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. On Day one of the encounter, the left-hander smashed 39 runs off a mere 26 balls with seven fours on a difficult pitch to bat on. Along with Shreyas Iyer, who scored 92 runs, he took India past the 250-run mark in the first innings.

Pant upped his game in the second innings and scored 50 runs off 31 balls with the help of seven fours and two sixes. He also became the Indian batter with the fastest fifty in Test cricket. The southpaw broke the record of Kapil Dev, who scored the half-century off 30 balls against Pakistan in Karachi in 1982. Pant got to the milestone off only 28 deliveries.

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He started his knock with a single and in the very next ball, he deposited Praveen Jayawickrama over the deep mid-wicket boundary for a massive six. In the next over, Pant decided to take Dhananjaya de Silva to the cleaners. He ended the over with a four followed by a humongous six over long off.

Pant didn’t stop there and kept on playing his shots fearlessly. In the 42nd over, he broke Kapil Dev’s 40-year-old record after drilling Jayawickrama through the covers for a four. The rub of the green also went in the batter’s favour as in the 38th over, Niroshan Dickwella missed a stumping chance.

Here’s the video of Rishabh Pant taking on the Sri Lankan bowlers

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After being put under pressure, Sri Lanka used up a review in an unsuccessful bid to dismiss Pant LBW. But in the very next ball, Pant perished.

Watch: Rishabh Pant sends his bat to square leg and ball to backward point

The southpaw danced down the track to send Jayawickrama out of the park, but could only manage a skier. The bowler called for the catch took it safely. The Lankans would have breathed a sigh of relief as Pant was looking dangerous.

Meanwhile, the record for the fastest Test fifty is held by Pakistan’s Misbah-ul-Haq, who got to the milestone off 21 balls against Australia in Abu Dhabi back in 2014.