Random Records
These are some of the strangest and least well known records cricket has to offer. For this list/article I am counting all professional cricket matches, be it List A; T20 or Test matches.
Lowest ever score in T20 internationals:
Mali women and Maldives women - 6
Starting with Mali women's team, their score of 6 took place against Rwanda women on June 18th 2019. The game was a part of the annual Kwibuka tournament between Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda (where it is held). However, this year Kenya were forced to withdraw, meaning another side had to come in, and that side was Mali. The second match in the tournament was Mali's first, and after an exciting first game, people were hopeful for some fight from the Mali players. However, what followed was arguably the biggest mismatch cricket has ever seen. After Mali won the toss and decided to bat, nothing went right for them. One batter passed zero, 23 year old pener Mariam Samake. Everyone else made zero, although five extras got them up to 6. Moreover, they managed to bat for 9 overs! The reply from Rwanda was, well, brief to say the least. Rwanda knocked off the seven required in four balls, the shortest run chase in T20 history, Josian Nyirankundineza hitting the winning runs. Mali followed this up with the biggest loss ever in T20 cricket, losing by 304 against Uganda later in the tournament. They ended it losing all their games, and totalling
91-59 in 76.2 overs. Not a huge success then.
The next loss saw the same score, but not the same level of WOW factor. The Maldives, a side making their T20I debut in 2019, playing Bangladesh, who managed to beat India in a global tournament. So, you can begin to understand the force of this loss. Bangladesh batted first, and after two overs, they had already lost two wickets. Shock on the cards? No. After that, Nigar Sultana and Fargana Hoque put on 236 in 18 overs, to take Bangladesh to a whopping 255/2. Both batters scored hundreds, Nigar making 114 and Fargana 110. The Maldives went out to bat, without much of a game plan. They were understandably rattled by Bangladesh's bowling, and fell for 6, like Mali had done previously. Nevertheless, The Maldives managed to survive 12.2 overs, a reasonable tally. In the rest of the tournament, they made 30 against Sri Lanka, another world cup side, but were bowled out for 8 against Nepal, and later 17 against the same opposition. When they were all out for 17, Anjali Chand picked up 6-0, the best ever figures in T20 cricket.
Highest percentage of extras in a T20 innings (only counting scores over 10)
Lesotho vs Botswana
Out of 40, 25 extras, 62.5%
Another African women fixture, another crazy result. Lesotho made just 40 in their allotted innings, although they didn't use it all up. Their score of 40 was practically all down to 25 extras from a somewhat erratic Botswana team. Shameelah Mosweu, for example bowled six wides in two overs, and her teammate Amantle Mokgatlhe bowled five wides in just one over. However, this didn't bother Botswana, bowling Lesotho out for 40 anyway, and winning by 124 runs. Their innings of 164/4 contained 45 extras - maybe we can blame it on difficult winds in Gaborone that day.
Highest Men's T20 score (team)
Afghanistan - 278/3 vs Ireland
Afghanistan were playing Ireland at dehradun in February 2019 in this match, a game dominated by Hazratullah Zazai. The opener for Afghanistan got into his stride straight away, and eventually struck a mammoth 162 in 62 balls. Him and Usman Ghani put on 236 in 17.4 overs for the first wicket, a T20 record. Ghani made 73 himself, and Mohammad Nabi chipped in towards the back end with a quickfire 17 from five. 18 extras helped the Afghans on their way, and they struck 19 fours and 22 sixes in an incredible display of power hitting. Hazrat's 162 is the second highest men's T20 international score, behind Aaron Finch's 172 vs Zimbabwe. Ghani and Hazrat's partnership of 236 is the highest in any international T20s, and the 22 sixes struck is a world record. later on in the game Rashid Khan enhanced his reputation by taking 4-25, in a game with 472 runs scored.