Yuvraj Singh, Rohit Sharma's T20I records broken as Nepal script history in Asian Games

History was made by Nepal’s men’s cricket team in their Asian Games group match against Mongolia on Wednesday. This was the first match of the men’s cricket tournament in Hangzhou after India bagged gold in the women’s event earlier in the week. Nepal flexed their batting muscles as they powered their way to a mammoth score of 314/3 in 20 overs. With this, they became the first time to breach the 300-run milestone in the T20I format. It had been previously confirmed by the International Cricket Council (ICC) that the matches at the Asian Games would carry T20I status.

Apart from this, Dipendra Singh Airee broke Yuvraj Singh’s longstanding record for the fastest T20I half-century. Yuvraj held the record by scoring a fifty in 12 balls in a match against England back in the 2007 World T20, where he also smashed six sixes in six balls. Airee achieved this milestone in a mere nine deliveries and concluded with an undefeated score of 52 runs in only 10 balls – 48 runs came from just sixes.

There was more to follow as Kushal Malla eclipsed India captain Rohit Sharma and South Africa’s star batter David Miller by scoring the fastest T20I century. He raced to the milestone in just 34 deliveries. Both Rohit and Miller had reached the century mark in 35 balls.

Malla smashed 8 fours and an astonishing 12 sixes and was unbeaten on 137 runs from just 50 deliveries.

As far as Mongolia is concerned, Luvsanzundui Erdenebulgan (1/47), Davaasuren Jamyansuren (1/60), Mungun Altankhuyag (1/55) picked up a wicket each.

They were later bowled out for 41 as Nepal won by 273 runs.

List of highest T20I scores in history:

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)

The men’s competition at the Asian Games has three groups – each group comprises three teams. The top-ranked team from each group will advance to the quarter-finals, where they will be joined by India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan.