Dubai: Teenager Kushal Malla has broken the record for the fastest men’s T20I century held previously by a trio of players including India captain Rohit Sharma as Nepal created their own piece of history by scoring the highest total ever against Mongolia at the Asian Games on Wednesday.
Malla took just 34 deliveries to reach his century in Hangzhou, surpassing the 35-ball efforts of Rohit and David Miller from 2017 and Sudesh Wickramasekara in 2019 as Nepal amassed a whopping 314/3 from their 20 overs against Mongolia at the Asian Games.
That total was 36 runs higher than the previous best in T20I, with Afghanistan (278/3 v Ireland) and the Czech Republic (278/4 v Turkey) holding the previous highest total with their own large scores from 2019.
HIGHEST TOTALS IN MEN’S T20I
Nepal 314/3 v Mongolia 2023
Afghanistan 278/3 v Ireland 2019
Czech Republic 278/4 v Turkey 2019
Australia 263/3 v Sri Lanka 2016
Sri Lanka 260/6 v Kenya 2007
Nepal smashed a total of 26 sixes during their impressive innings, with 12 of those maximums coming from the bat of Malla and a further eight from Dipendra Singh Airee.
Malla came to the crease at the end of the fifth over with his team at 42/1 and didn’t take his foot from the accelerator despite the loss of opener Kushal Bhurtel with the score on 66.
The left-hander combined with skipper Rohit Paudel (61 from 27 deliveries) for a partnership of 193 in less than 11 overs and Airee (52* off 10 balls) joined in the fun during the final few overs to break Yuvraj Singh’s record and claim the fastest T20I fifty ever in just nine deliveries.
Malla finished unbeaten on 137*, with Mongolia all out for 41 in reply as Nepal claimed an emphatic 273-run victory.
Nepal reached the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Qualifier in Zimbabwe earlier this year but failed to qualify for the tournament proper as Sri Lanka and the Netherlands clinched the final two places.
Courtesy : ICC