A hapless Bangladeshi bowling attack was taken to the cleaners on Saturday as India posted a mammoth 297/6 in 20 overs, the highest T20I total by a Test-playing nation in the history of the format. (Live Blog | More Cricket News)
India overtook Afghanistan's total of 278/3 which came against Ireland in 2019 in Dehradun. However, India fell short of the highest T20I score of all time which is 314 that Nepal smashed against Mongolia in the 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games.
India smashed Bangladeshi bowlers throughout the innings and at one point seemed set to post 300. Ultimately, the Suryakumar Yadav-led side fell three runs short of the historic achievement.
The six fest in Hyderabad saw Indian batters hit 22 maximums. This became the joint-highest number of sixes a team has hit in a T20I innings. Afghanistan and West Indies had earlier hit 22 sixes against Ireland and South Africa respectively.
Apart from 22 sixes, Indian batters also slammed 25 fours, taking the total boundary count to 47, highest in any T20I so far.
The star of the show was undoubtedly Sanju Samson who raced to the second fastest T20I century by an Indian in 40 deliveries. Samson smashed his maiden T20I century, getting to 111 from 47 balls before departing. Samson hit 11 fours and eight sixes in an astonishing display of hitting. The Kerala wicket-keeper batter stitched a 156-run partnership with captain Suryakumar who too had a fantastic outing. The Indian skipper scored 75 off just 35 deliveries.
The partnership of 156 from just 69 balls was the fastest 150-plus stand by a Test-playing team in T20Is.
Even after the wickets of Samson and Suryakumar, India kept going at the same rate thanks to Riyan Parag and Hardik Pandya onslaught. Parag smashed 34 runs from just 13 balls while Pandya departed after scoring 47 from only 18 balls.
