Stats: Hazratullah Zazai's unbeaten 162 powers Afghanistan to a record T20 total against Ireland

Afghanistan sealed the T20I series against Ireland in style by posting a record total in the 2nd game with their opener Hazratullah Zazai scoring an unbeaten 162. After electing to bat first, the Afghanistan opening pair of Hazratullah and Usman Ghani put on a double century stand. Zazai almost cleared the fence every over as he struck 11 fours and 16 sixes during his 62-ball stay. Ghani scored 73 to share a record 236-run opening stand in 17.2 overs.

As a result, the Afghans finished with a mammoth total of 278/3 in their 20 overs. In reply, Ireland’s opening pair added 126 in 11.5 overs which wasn’t enough to get close to the Afghan total as they lost by 84 runs. Skipper Paul Stirling scored 91 off 50 balls before Rashid Khan ran through the middle-order to restrict the visiting team to 194/6.

All the major stats and number recorded during this high-scoring match in Dehradun:

The record total:

278/3 – Afghanistan’s total of 278/3 is the highest total in Twenty20 cricket. They surpassed 263/5 by RCB against PWI in 2013 IPL and Australia’s 263/3 against Sri Lanka in 2016.

472 – The match aggregate of 472 runs is the 4th highest in a Twenty20 game and the 3rd highest in a T20I match. The 2016 Super Smash game between Central Stags and Otago Volts recorded 497 runs. The 2016 Windies-India T20I in Lauderhill and the NZ-Australia T20I in 2018 hosted by Auckland witnessed 489 and 488 runs respectively.

A record partnership:

236 – The opening stand of 236 runs between Hazratullah Zazai and Usman Ghani is the highest for any wicket in Twenty20 cricket. The pair went past the 229-run stand between Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers for the 2nd wicket against Gujarat Lions in the 2016 IPL.

D’Arcy Short and Aaron Finch’s 223-run partnership against Zimbabwe in 2018 is the only other 200-run stand in T20I cricket and the previous highest opening stand in the T20 format.

Record individual knocks:

162* – Hazratullah Zazai’s unbeaten 162 is the 2nd highest individual score by any player in T20I cricket. Aaron Finch scored 172 against Zimbabwe in the 2018 Harare T20I.

Zazai’s innings is also the joint 3rd highest in Twenty20 history and the highest by an Asian player. The previous highest individual score by an Asian player is 150* by Kamran Akmal in the 2017 National T20 Cup.

91 – Paul Stirling’s 91 is the highest individual score in T20I cricket by an Ireland player surpassing Andy Balbirnie’s 83 against the Netherlands on last Sunday.

Zazai’s record hundred:

42 – Hazratullah’s 42-ball century is the 3rd fastest century by any player in T20I cricket. David Miller against Bangladesh and Rohit Sharma against Sri Lanka scored 35-ball centuries in 2017.

20y 337d – Hazratullah became the youngest player to score a century in the T20I format. Ahmed Shehzad was the previous youngest player to score T20I century as he was 22 years and 127 days against Bangladesh in the 2014 WT20.

58 – Zazai needed only 58 balls to bring up his 150-run mark; the 2nd fewest for any player in a Twenty20 game. Chris Gayle took only 53 balls for reaching 150 during his 175* in the 2013 IPL game.

This is also the fastest 150 in the International cricket bettering AB de Villiers who needed only 64 balls for completing 150 during the 2015 CWC game against Windies.

Boundaries galore:

16 – The 16 sixes hit by Hazratullah Zazai are the most in a T20I innings surpassing 14 maximums by Aaron Finch during the 2013 Southampton T20I against England.

Chris Gayle is the only player to hit more than 16 sixes in a T20 inning; 18 sixes in the BPL 2017 final and 17 sixes during the 175* in IPL 2013.

22 – The 22 sixes hit by Afghanistan are the most by any team in a T20I inning and the 2nd most by any team in a Twenty20 inning. Windies against India in the 2016 Lauderhill T20I and India in the 2017 Indore T20I against Sri Lanka hit 21 sixes each.

The record of most sixes in a T20 innings is held by Balkh Legends with 23 sixes against Kabul Zwanan in the last year’s APL game.

140 – The 140 runs scored by Zazai through boundaries are the 2nd most by any player in a Twenty20 inning. Chris Gayle hit 154 runs via boundaries during his unbeaten 175 in the 2013 IPL game.

212 – The 212 runs aggregated by Afghanistan in boundaries are the most by any team in a Twenty20 inning. RCB against PWI in the 2013 IPL game and India against Sri Lanka in the 2017 Indore T20I scored 210 runs in boundaries.

Rashid does his work:

24 – Rashid Khan’s 24 wickets against Ireland in T20I cricket are the most by any player against an opponent in this format. He went past Shahid Afridi’s 21 T20I wickets against New Zealand. Rashid is also the first player with three 4-wicket hauls against an opponent in T20Is.