Nepal cricket team made history on Wednesday by becoming the first team to score over 300 runs in a T20I match, smashing three world records in the process. Nepal posted a mammoth 314 for 3 against Mongolia in the Asian Games 2023, breaking the previous record of 278 for 3 by Afghanistan against Ireland in 2019.
Nepal’s innings was powered by two sensational knocks from Kushal Malla and Dipendra Singh Airee, who both achieved individual milestones. Malla, a 19-year-old left-handed batter, struck the fastest-ever T20I hundred in 34 balls, eclipsing David Miller and Rohit Sharma’s joint previous record (35 balls). Malla scored 107 off 34 balls with seven fours and nine sixes.
Nepal’s teenage sensation Kushal Malla has etched his name in the cricket history books by scoring the fastest century ever in a men’s T20I match against Mongolia at the Asian Games on Wednesday.
The 17-year-old left-hander reached his hundred in just 34 balls, breaking the previous record of 35 balls held by India’s Rohit Sharma, South Africa’s David Miller and the Czech Republic’s Sudesh Wickramasekara.
Malla’s blistering knock of 137 not out from 50 balls, which included 12 sixes and nine fours, powered Nepal to a mammoth total of 314/3 in 20 overs – the highest ever in a men’s T20I match.
Nepal surpassed the previous best of 278/3 by Afghanistan against Ireland and 278/4 by the Czech Republic against Turkey, both achieved in 2019.
Malla was well supported by his captain Rohit Paudel, who scored 61 from 27 balls, and Dipendra Singh Airee, who smashed a record-breaking fifty from just nine balls.
Airee’s half-century was the fastest ever in a men’s T20I match, beating the 12-ball effort by India’s Yuvraj Singh against England in 2007.
Airee finished unbeaten on 52 from 10 balls, hitting eight sixes and two fours, as Nepal added 106 runs in the last four overs.
Nepal also smashed a total of 26 sixes in their innings, the highest by a team in the format’s history in a single inning. By doing so, they went past Afghanistan’s record of 22 sixes in 2019.
Mongolia had no answer to Nepal’s onslaught and were bundled out for 41 runs in 13.1 overs. Only one Mongolian batter reached a double-digit score, 10 in 23 by Davaasuren Jamyansuren. The innings witnessed five ducks. The three-team group also has the Maldives. Nepal next face the Maldives on October 1.
Nepal’s spinners shared nine wickets among them, with Sandeep Lamichhane taking 4/8 and Sompal Kami taking 3/6.
This was Nepal’s second win in the Asian Games, after they beat Bhutan by nine wickets on Monday.
Nepal are aiming to qualify for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, which will be held in Australia later this year.
They 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.
(With ICC inputs)
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