In the opening match of the Men’s Asian Games against Mongolia in Hangzhou, Nepal’s batsmen shattered several records on their way to an astonishing 273-run victory. Let’s take a quick look at some of the significant records they broke.
Nepal’s score of 314 for 3 against Mongolia in the Asian Games marked a historic milestone as the first of its kind. Previously, the highest T20 total was Afghanistan’s 278 for 3 against Ireland in Dehradun in 2019.
Kushal Malla of Nepal achieved the fastest T20 International century, taking just 34 balls to reach the milestone. This remarkable feat surpassed the previous record of 35 balls, which was jointly held by David Miller, Rohit Sharma, and Czech Republic’s Sudesh Wickramasekara.
Nepal’s Dipendra Singh Airee impressed with his exceptional performance, taking only 9 balls to score a fifty. Airee’s innings featured eight sixes without any fours, making it the fastest fifty in all T20 matches. This record broke the previous record of 12 balls, jointly held by Yuvraj Singh, Chris Gayle, and Hazratullah Zazai. Notably, Yuvraj’s fifty came in a T20 International match, while the other two were scored in regular T20 matches.
Nepal’s staggering 273-run margin of victory over Mongolia set a new record for the largest margin of victory in terms of runs in all T20 matches. The previous record was held by Czech Republic, with a 208-run win against Panama in 2021.
Dipendra Singh Airee’s unbeaten knock of 52 off 10 balls boasted an astonishing strike rate of 520. This achievement marked the first instance in T20 matches where a batsman scored at a strike rate of 500 or more in an innings of 10 or more balls. The previous best was Malcolm Waller’s strike rate of 430 in a ten-ball innings during Zimbabwe’s domestic T20 competition in 2016.
Nepal’s batters collectively smashed 26 sixes in the match, setting a new record for the most sixes hit by a team in a T20 international. The previous record was 22 sixes, achieved by Afghanistan against Ireland in Dehradun in 2019 and by West Indies against South Africa in Centurion earlier in the same year. Moreover, this total also surpassed the record for the most sixes in any T20 match, previously held by Balkh Legend batters, who hit 23 sixes against Kabul Zwanan in the Afghanistan Premier League in 2018.
