Nepal's Kushal Malla shattered multiple all-time batting records in T20Is as he scored a sensational century in the first match of Group A in the ongoing Asian Games men's cricket competition against Mongolia on Wednesday, September 27.
Malla's ton saw him take down the long-standing record of Rohit Sharma. Malla only took 34 balls to reach the three-figure mark against Mongolia and became the fastest centurion in the T20I format shattering Rohit Sharma's record of 35-ball 100 in T20Is. Meanwhile, his teammate Dipendra Singh Airee reached his half-century in just nine balls and broke Yuvraj Singh's 12-ball 50 record.
Nepal broke numerous records in the match against Mongolia as they secured a 273-run win. No team had scored a 300 before in T20I cricket and Nepal's score of 314 is the highest in T20Is. The previous highest team score was set up by Afghanistan when they racked up 278 against Ireland in Dehradun (2019).
Malla is now the fastest centurion in the T20I format. He broke the record that was jointly held by Sudesh Wickramasekara of the Czech Republic, South Africa's David Miller and Rohit Sharma of India. Sudesh, Miller and Rohit had reached the milestone in 35 balls respectively.
Nepal's victory over Mongolia by 273 runs is the largest margin of victory in T20I cricket. The previous highest was the Czech Republic's staggering win over Panama in 2021. The Nepal versus Mongolia clash turned out to be a six-fest. The Nepal batters hit a record 26 sixes to help Nepal become the team to hit the most sixes in a T20I game.
Previously Afghanistan and the West Indies jointly held the record (22 sixes). Afghanistan hit 22 sixes against Ireland in Dehradun in the game mentioned above whereas the West Indies had smashed 22 sixes against South Africa in Centurion in a bilateral contest earlier this year.
