West Indies all-rounder Romario Shepherd smashed a record-breaking 14-ball fifty while playing for Royal Challengers Bengaluru in their IPL 2025 match against Chennai Super Kings on Saturday (May 3).
Asked to bat first, RCB added 97 runs off 59 balls for the first wicket. At 21 years and 192 days, Jacob Bethell became the third youngest overseas player to hit a fifty in the tournament after Sam Curran (20 years and 334 days) and Rahmanullah Gurbaz (21 years and 129 days). Virat Kohli top-scored with a 33-ball 62, while Bethell hit 55 off 33.
Shepherd provided the perfect finish to RCB’s innings. At 159-5 after 18 overs, 200 seemed unlikely – until he smashed Khaleel Ahmed for 33 runs in the 19th over, the most expensive over of this IPL season. Khaleel’s figures of 0-65 now stand as the costliest three-over spell in T20 history. Shepherd wasn’t done yet: he hammered Pathirana for a four and two sixes in the final over, racing to a 14-ball fifty and powering RCB to 213-5.
Match 52, Royal Challengers Bengaluru vs Chennai Super Kings
vs
- Ball by ball Over
Romario Shepherd, for sheer power and dominance. 😌
— Royal Challengers Bengaluru (@RCBTweets) May 3, 2025
pic.twitter.com/GvP79IR5fG
Fastest fifties in IPL, full list
Shepherd's 14-ball half-century is now the joint second-fastest in the history of IPL, just shy of Yashasvi Jaiswal's 13-ball effort for Rajasthan Royals against Kolkata Knight Riders in the 2023 season. Apart from Shepherd, KL Rahul and Pat Cummins have also scored a fifty each in 14 balls. That means Shepherd and Cummins now jointly hold the tournament record by an overseas player.
The West Indies all-rounder’s last-ball six to reach the landmark saw him end with an unbeaten 53 off 14 balls. His strike-rate of 378.57 is the highest in a 50-plus score in the tournament. Shepherd eclipsed Cummins’ 15-ball 56 not out, which came at 373.33 for Kolkata Knight Riders against Mumbai Indians in 2022.
Highest strike-rate in a fifty-plus IPL knock
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