Bengaluru, Mar 13 (PTI) Flamboyant wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant on Sunday broke the legendary Kapil Dev's 40-year-old record of fastest Test fifty by an Indian on the second day of the Day/Night match against Sri Lanka here.

The dashing left-hander cruised to his fifty in 28 balls (7x4, 2x6) in the 42nd over of Indian second innings when he hit a Praveen Jayawickrama delivery through the extra cover boundary.

Also Read | FIFA Friendlies: Newcomers to Indian National Football Team Say It’s A Dream Come True.

India's first World Cup-winning skipper Kapil Dev had cracked a 30-ball half-century against Pakistan in the Karachi Test in 1982.

"Rishabh Pant surpasses Kapil Dev to score the fastest 50 by an Indian in Test cricket... Take a bow, Rishabh," posted BCCI in its Twitter handle.

Also Read | Shoaib Malik Breaks Silence Over Future, Says 'He Was Not a Liability to the Pakistan Side'.

Pant also set a world record for notching up the fastest fifty by a wicketkeeper-batter in Tests, bettering the efforts of Australia's Ian Smith and former India captain MS Dhoni (both scored 34-ball fifty).

Pant, however, could not make it big and got out in the same score and over, giving Jayawickrama a return catch in the final delivery.

Shardul Thakur is the third in the list of fastest Test fifty by an Indian with his 31-ball half-century in the Oval Test against England last year.

Former India opener Virender Sehwag has scored a 32-ball 50 against England in Chennai in 2008.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)