In a historic display of dominance, Nepal's men's cricket team clinched a resounding 273-run victory over Mongolia during the opening match of the men's cricket tournament at the ongoing Asian Games in Hangzhou on Wednesday.
This triumph marked a remarkable milestone, as it became the largest margin of victory in terms of runs ever recorded in T20I cricket history.
The Nepal men's team raked up a T20 world record total of 314/3 in 20 overs, with Kushal Malla blasting an entertaining 137 from 50 balls, hitting 12 sixes and eight fours, at the Pingfeng Campus Cricket Field, Hangzhou.
Malla hit the fastest ever century in T20 Internationals as he raced to the landmark in just 34 balls, eclipsing David Miller and Rohit Sharma's joint previous record of century from 35 balls.
Nepal became the first team to score 300 in a T20 International match.
Dipendra Singh Airee finished off the innings in grand style as he hammered 52 from 10 balls, which included as many as eight sixes. He raced to his fifty from just nine balls to break Yuvraj Singh's record of the fastest half-century in T20 Internationals, which the Indian had achieved against England from 12 balls in the T20 World Cup in 2007.
Captain Rohit Paudel also made merry as he hammered 61 from 27 balls, with six sixes and two fours.
Nepal's exceptional performance surpassed the previous record set by the Czech Republic, which secured a 257-run win over Turkey while defending a total of 279 runs back in 2019. In this high-stakes clash, Nepal set a daunting target of 314 runs for Mongolia to chase.
However, Mongolia's batting lineup struggled immensely in their pursuit, with only Davaasuren Jamyansuren managing to reach double figures, contributing just 10 runs. Ultimately, Mongolia was bundled out for a mere 41 runs in a mere 13.1 overs. The trio of Sandeep Lamichhane (2/7), Abinash Bohara (2/2), and Karan KC (2/1) displayed exceptional bowling prowess for Nepal.
