Fastest fifties in Tests

Shahid Afridi [ Images ] on Sunday raced to his fifty off only 26 balls in Pakistan's second innings of Bangalore Test.

Afridi now holds the record of scoring the fastest fifty for Pakistan bettering Yousuf Youhana's record. His fifty is also the second fastest in all Test cricket after Jacques Kallis' [ Images ] 24-ball fifty against Zimbabwe recently.

24	JH Kallis	South Africa [ Images ] v Zimbabwe	Cape Town	2004-05
26	Shahid Afridi	Pakistan v India [ Images ]	Bangalore	2004-05
27	Yousuf Youhana	Pakistan v South Africa	Cape Town	2002-03
28	IT Botham	England [ Images ] v India	Delhi [ Images ]	1981-82
30	Kapil Dev [ Images ]	India v Pakistan	Karachi	1982-83
31	WJ Cronje	South Africa v Sri Lanka [ Images ]	Centurion	1997-98
32	IVA Richards	West Indies [ Images ] v India	Kingston [ Images ]	1982-83
32	IT Botham	England v New Zealand [ Images ]	The Oval	1986

Note: Some of the sources mention that Ian Botham took 26 balls to complete his fifty against India at Delhi, which is incorrect.

Botham faced 28 deliveries, not 26, for his 50 at Delhi in 1981, which can be confirmed by careful checking of the scorebook (Botham faced two no-balls, which may have been overlooked at the time).