Nepal batsman Rohit Paudel hit 55 off 58 balls against UAE, aged 16 years and 146 days, to become the youngest male player in history to score an international half-century.
The previous youngest was none other than India’s batting legend Sachin Tendulkar, who scored 59 runs in a Test match against Pakistan aged 16 years and 213 days, while in ODIs the record was set by Pakistan’s all-rounder Shahid Afridi, who smashed a 37-ball century, also a record at the time, aged 16 years and 217 days in his maiden international innings against Sri Lanka.
However, Rohit is some way off the overall record for all international cricket, with South Africa Women’s Johmari Logtenburg having struck Test and ODI half-centuries as a 14-year-old.
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Paudel had come close to setting a world record when he made his ODI debut aged 15 years and 335 days back in August 2018. He then became the fourth-youngest male cricketer to make his ODI debut.
Paudel first attracted attention when he smashed Indian speedster Kamlesh Nagarkoti for 24 runs off five balls in the Under-19 World Cup three years ago.
