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.
FASTEST CENTURIES
IN MEN'S T20I
Kushal Malla
(Nepal) |
34 deliveries v Mongolia 2023 |
David Miller (South Africa) |
35 deliveries v Bangladesh 2017 |
Rohit Sharma (India) |
35 deliveries v Sri Lanka 2017 |
Sudesh Wickramasekara (Czech Republic) |
35 deliveries v Turkey 2019 |
Sivakumar Periyalwar (Romania) |
39 deliveries v Turkey 2019 |
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.
FASTEST
HALF-CENTURIES IN MEN'S T20I
Dipendra Singh
Airee (Nepal) |
9 deliveries v Mongolia 2023 |
Yuvraj Singh (India) |
12 deliveries v England 2007 |
Mirza Ahsan (Austria) |
13 deliveries v Luxembourg 2019 |
Colin Munro (New Zealand) |
14 deliveries v Sri Lanka 2016 |
Ramesh Satheesan (Romania) |
14 deliveries v Serbia 2021 |
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.