England vs India: Shardul Thakur surpasses Virender Sehwag to slam second-fastest Test fifty for India

London, Sep 2: India all-rounder lit up the iconic Oval Stadium with his quickfire half-century on the opening day of the fourth Test against England on Thursday (September 2).

Shardul - who is making a comeback in the penultimate Test - displayed his batting exploits as he notched up his fifty batting at number eight. The right-handed batsman from Mumbai played some confident shots in his stay at the crease and slammed his second half-century in Test cricket.

Shardul - who was included in the side as a replacement to senior pacer Mohammad Shami - walked into the middle when the team was in dire straits on the opening day of the match.

India were struggling 117 for 6 when Thakur walked in early as the top-order once again faltered against a quality English pace attack. 10 runs later, India's last recognised batsman Rishabh Pant also perished while trying to clear the slower one bowled by Chris Woakes.

With Umesh Yadav at the other end, Shardul took the onus upon himself and scored runs against the flow of play. Shardul - who slammed a brilliant half-century on his Test debut in Australia earlier this year - batted aggressively and played brilliant shots.

The right-handed batsman played straight drives, pulls, hooks in his knock as he went on slamming his half-century off 31 deliveries. He clubbed Ollie Robinson over mid-wicket for a six and slammed his fifty.

Shardul's 31-ball half-century was the second-fastest fifty from an Indian in the red-ball format as he surpassed former India opener Virender Sehwag. Sehwag - who is known as one of the greatest red-ball openers of all time - had slammed his fifty off 32 deliveries against England in Chennai in 2008. Shardul took one ball less than Sehwag to leapfrog the Delhi cricketer. Interestingly, Sehwag was present in the Hindi commentary box when Shardul surpassed him.

Shardul scored a quickfire 57 before getting dismissed and helped Team India post 191 in the first innings. It was his 63-run partnership with Umesh Yadav for the eighth wicket that saved his team from getting bundled out under 150. Thakur's imperious knock (57 off 36) was laced with seven fours and three sixes.

Shardul is only behind legendary India all-rounder Kapil Dev - who holds the record of slamming the fastest Test fifty from an Indian. Dev slammed his fifty off 30 deliveries against arch-rivals Pakistan at Karachi in 1982 and later smashed half-century against Sri Lanka in Kanpur during a Test match in 1986.

Former Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq holds the record of scoring the fastest fifty in Test cricket as he took just 21 deliveries to the milestone against Australia.