Mohammad Ashraful on Sunday raced to his fifty in just 27 minutes and off 26 balls with nine fours and two sixes in Bangladesh's second innings of Mirpur Test.
Mirpur Test: Report | Images | Scorecard
Ashraful's fifty is now the fastest ever in Test cricket history in terms of minutes and second (joint) fastest in terms of balls. The accompanying tables have the details.
Fastest Test fifties (by minutes)| Mins | Batsman | Countries | Venue | Season |
| 27 | Mohammad Ashraful (67) | Ban v Ind | Mirpur | 2007 |
| 28 | JT Brown (140) | Eng v Aus | Melbourne | 1894-95 |
| 29 | SA Durani (61*) | Ind v Eng | Kanpur | 1963-64 |
| 30 | EAV Williams (72) | WI v Eng | Bridgetown | 1947-48 |
| 30 | BR Taylor (124) | NZ v WI | Auckland | 1968-69 |
Fastest Test fifties (by balls)
| Balls | Batsman | Countries | Venue | Season |
| 24 | JH Kallis (54) | SA v Zim | Cape Town | 2004-05 |
| 26 | Shahid Afridi (58) | Pak v Ind | Bangalore | 2004-05 |
| 26 | Mohammad Ashraful (67) | Ban v Ind | Mirpur | 2007 |
| 27 | Mohammad Yousuf (50) | Pak v SA | Cape Town | 2002-03 |
Notes:
- Australia's VT Trumper is shown at some places with a time of 22 minutes for his fifty during his innings of 63 against South Africa at Johannesburg in 1902-03. However Trumper took no less than 45 minutes for his fifty.
- Some sources show England's IT Botham with a 26-ball fifty against India at Delhi in 1981-82. Botham actually took 28 balls to do so.