T20 World Cup: Sri Lanka's 260/6 and other high totals in tournament history

The countdown to the T20 World Cup has well and truly begun with a majority of the teams having reached Australia, the host nation for the eighth edition and the warm-up matches also getting underway from Monday. And less than a week now remains for the qualifying round to begin, with Namibia taking on Sri Lanka in the first official match of the World Cup this Sunday.

Australia enter this tournament as strong favourites to retain the title after ending a 14-year wait for a maiden T20 world title in the UAE last year. Aaron Finch and Co begin their campaign against Trans-Tasman rivals New Zealand on Saturday, 22 October, while former champions India and Pakistan lock horns in a blockbuster of a clash at the Melbourne Cricket Ground the following day.

The shortest format tends to be kind towards the batters more often than not and run-rates in the range of 8-9 are a regular occurrence rather than an anomaly, as used to be the case with the 50-over format not too long ago. As we build towards the World Cup, we take a look at some of the highest totals in the history of the tournament:

260/6, Sri Lanka vs Kenya, 2007



The Sri Lankans have a penchant for setting extraordinarily high totals; they held the record for the highest ODI total for a decade with their 398/5 against Kenya, and would hold it for another 10 years after scoring 443/9 against Netherlands in 2006. The Mahela Jayawardene-led side would set the record for the highest total in T20Is at a time when the format was still in its infancy, posting a daunting 260/6 after being invited to bat in Johannesburg, with batting legend Sanath Jayasuriya top-scoring for the side with a 44-ball 88. Sri Lanka would later skittle Kenya out for 88 to register a massive 172-run win.

230/8, England vs South Africa, 2016



England stunned South Africa in what turned out to be one of the most extraordinary T20I matches ever witnessed, with Joe Root dishing out a batting masterclass with his 44-ball 83 as Eoin Morgan and Co chased down a daunting 230-run target during the group stage at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium in the 2016 edition. Opener Jason Roy provided the perfect start with a 16-ball 43 against the country of his birth, though the South Africans would later fight back, reducing England to 111/4, before Root’s one-man show blew the Proteas away.

229/4, South Africa vs England, 2016

Before Root’s heroics that helped England pull off a chase to remember, South Africa posted what was then the second-highest total in the history of the T20 World Cup as they posted a humongous 229/4 on the board after being invited to bat by the 2010 world champions. Both Hashim Amla and Quinton de Kock got the Proteas off to a dream start, slamming half-centuries each and stitching a 96-run opening stand. JP Duminy would later steer the South Africans past the 200-run mark and help them finish on a high with an unbeaten 60-run stand with David Miller.

218/4, India vs England, 2016



In a game widely remembered for Yuvraj Singh’s confrontation with Andrew Flintoff that was followed by Yuvraj smashing six sixes in a Stuart Broad over saw the Indians post 218/4 on the board at Kingsmead, Durban on 19 September, 2007. Though Gautam Gambhir (58) and Virender Sehwag (68) provided the Men in Blue the perfect start with a 136-run opening stand, the game perhaps is best known for Yuvraj’s 16-ball 58 that contained a total of seven sixes and three fours.

211/5, South Africa vs Scotland, 2009

AB de Villiers produced one of his greatest T20 knocks on 7 June, 2009 in the second edition of ICC’s showpiece T20 event as South Africa posted a mammoth 211/5 on the board at The Oval after being invited to bat by Scotland. Earlier, skipper Graeme Smith and Jacques Kallis set the tone with an 87-run opening stand, with AB taking over from where they left off.

Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.