Though Pakistan lost Hobart ODI against Australia in the ongoing VB Series, Shahid Afridi played gem of an innings scoring 56 off just 26 balls.

The highlights of Afridi's innings was two successive sixes off Glenn McGrath. Don't think any other batsman has dared to treat McGrath in this fashion (Afridi's teammate Abdur Razzaq once hit McGrath for five successive fours though).

During the course of his innings, Afridi reached his fifty off only 24 balls (with a six!), which is the second fastest fifty scored against Australia after New Zealander Lance Cairns' 21-ball fifty in 1982-83.

Afridi's strike rate of 215.38 is also the highest by any player against Australia in an innings of 50 or more.

Fastest fifties against Australia

Best Strike-rates against Australia
(Min. Qualification : 50 runs)

SR	Batsman	Runs	Balls	For	Venue	Date
215.38	Shahid Afridi	56*	26	Pak	Hobart	16-01-2005
208.00	BL Cairns	52	25	NZ	Melbourne	13-02-1983
192.86	AM Blignaut	54	28	Zim	Bulawayo QSC	24-02-2003
187.10	Kapil Dev	58	31	Ind	Rajkot	07-10-1986
174.36	IT Botham	68	39	Eng	Perth	01-01-1987
164.10	MA Holding	64	39	WI	Perth	05-02-1984
163.16	SR Tendulkar	62	38	Ind	Visakhapatnam	03-04-2001
151.43	MA Holding	53*	35	WI	Perth	04-01-1987
150.00	IVA Richards	60*	40	WI	Sydney	18-01-1989