Nepal men's cricket team rewrote the history books in the match against Mongolia.
Invited to bat first, Nepal racked up a gigantic score of 314/3 in 20 overs, becoming the first team to breach the 300-run mark in the shortest format of the game.
Earlier, the International Cricket Council (ICC) had confirmed that the matches at the Asian Games would be granted T20I status.
During Nepal’s innings, Dipendra Singh Airee broke Yuvraj Singh's long-standing record of fastest T20I half-century. While the former India batter had slammed a T20I fifty in just 12 balls during the 2007 T20 World Cup against England, Dipendra took just 9 deliveries to reach the mark and he ended up with an unbeaten score of 52 in 10 balls, including 8 sixes.
Nepal’s No. 3 batter Kushal Malla had something bigger in store as he created the record of the fastest T20I hundred ever by reaching the mark in just 34 balls.
Malla broke the record previously held by India skipper Rohit Sharma and South Africa's David Miller. Both batters had taken 35 balls to reach the three-figure mark.
Kushal Malla eventually remained unbeaten on 137 off 50 balls. His brutal knock was studded with 8 fours and 12 sixes. Nepal skipper Rohit Paudel also contributed to the carnage with a whirlwind knock of 61 in 27 balls, including 2 fours and 6 sixes.
Here's the list of highest scores in T20I cricket:
1: Nepal - 314/4 vs Mongolia (2023)
2: Afghanistan - 278/3 vs Ireland (2019)
3: Czech Republic - 278/4 vs Turkey (2019)
4: Australia - 263/3 vs Sri Lanka (2016)
5: Sri Lanka 260/6 vs Kenya (2007)
Chasing the daunting target, Mongolia’s innings folded for a paltry 41 in 13.1 overs as Nepal won the game by a whopping margin of 273 runs.
It was a listless performance from Mongolia as only one batter managed to touch the double-digit mark. Davaasuren Jamyansuren top scored with 10.
Karan KC (2-1), Abinash Bohara (2-2), and Sandeep Lamichhane (2-7) returned with economical figures and picked up two scalps each for Nepal.
(Hindustan Times Inputs)