Courtesy: Cricket Zimababwe
On Wednesday, October 23, Zimbabwe made history by registering the highest team total in the history of T20I cricket during the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Sub Regional Africa Qualifier Group B match. At the Ruaraka Sports Ground in Nairobi, the Zimbabwean batters demolished the bowling lineup of Gambia, scoring 344/4 in their allotted 20 overs with their captain Sikandar Raza bringing up his maiden T20I century, the joint-second fastest in the format.
After winning the toss, the captain of Zimbabwe, Sikandar Raza, opted to bat first and their openers Brian Bennett and Tadiwanashe Marumani stitched together an opening stand of 98 runs in just 5.4 overs. Both these right-handed batters brought up their fifties shortly before their dismissal, but Gambia had no respite from the remaining batting lineup of Zimbabwe either.
Sikandar Raza scored unbeaten 133 off 43 against Gambia; his first T20I hundred
Dion Myers and Ryan Burl weren’t able to go big, but they also had an excess of 200 strike-rate, to keep the momentum of the Zimbabwean innings going. Following that, it was the captain Sikandar Raza and Clive Madande, who got together to share 141-run stand for the fifth wicket in just 6.4 overs, to propel Zimbabwe’s total close to 350 runs at the Ruaraka Sports Ground in Nairobi.
Sikandar Raza stayed unbeaten on 133 off 43, an explosive innings which included seven fours and 15 maximums, which is also his first hundred in T20Is. Meanwhile, Clive Madande also managed to keep his wicket intact until the end, scoring 53 off 17 with three fours and five maximums, while for Gambia, Andre Jarju picked up a couple of wickets, but conceded runs at a very high scoring rate.
Here’s the full list of highest team totals in T20Is:
Zimbabwe 344/4 vs Gambia - 2024
Nepal 314/3 vs Mongolia - 2023
India 297/6 vs Bangladesh - 2024
Afghanistan 278/3 vs Ireland - 2019
Czech Republic 278/4 vs Turkey - 2019
In pursuit of the seemingly impossible 345-run target, Gambia offered no resistance in front of the experienced Zimbabwean bowlers, with no batter in the top seven getting into double digits. As of this writing, Gambia are 40/8 in 11 overs after three wickets being picked up by Richard Ngarava.
