Rohit Paudel: Nepal’s Rohit Paudel breaks Sachin Tendulkar’s 29-year-old record, becomes youngest to hit international half-century | Cricket News

NEW DELHI: Nepal’s Rohit Paudel etched his name in the history books on Saturday, becoming the youngest player in international cricket to hit a half-century, surpassing legendary Sachin Tendulkar and Shahid Afridi.

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At the age of just 16 years and 146 days, Paudel top-scored for Nepal with a breezy knock of 55 that came in 58 balls against UAE in the second ODI of the three-match series at ICC Academy in Dubai, and in the process broke a 29-year-old record held by Tendulkar. The Indian batting legend had achieved the feat aged 16 years and 213 days in a Test against Pakistan in Faisalabad.

While in ODIs the mark was set by 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.

Riding on Paudel’s knock, Nepal posted 242/9 and then bundled out hosts UAE for 97 in 19.3 overs to register a massive 145-run win and level the series 1-1. UAE won the first ODI by three wickets.

Paudel had previously come close to setting a world record when he made his ODI debut aged 15 years and 335 days back in August 2018, making him the fourth-youngest man in history to do so.

Touted as a future star of Nepalese cricket, Paudel also struck highly-rated young and rising Indian speedster Kamlesh Nagarkoti for 24 runs in five balls in an U-19 ODI in 2016.