The biggest totals in the shortest format: Know the highest T20 scores

The popularity of cricket has grown leaps and bounds in the last two decades and Twenty20 or T20, the shortest format of the sport, has been at the heart of the surging mass appeal. For the uninitiated, T20 is an action-packed affair, mostly dominated by batters.

Towering sixes and darting boundaries are the highlights of the format, often resulting in gigantic totals despite each innings lasting only 20 overs.

Currently, the Baroda cricket team holds the record for the highest T20 score - 349/5 against Sikkim in a group game of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2024, India's premier domestic T20 tournament. Baroda batters hit a record 37 sixes during the innings and accumulated 294 runs in boundaries - another T20 record.

Previously, Zimbabwe held the record with 344/4 against Gambia in a group game at the ICC Men's T20 World Cup Sub Regional Africa Qualifier 2024 in Nairobi, Kenya. It is still the highest score in T20 internationals (T20I). Captain Sikandar Raza scored an unbeaten 133 off 43 balls.

Nepal's 314/3, scored against Mongolia at the Asian Games 2023 in Hangzhou, the People's Republic of China was the previous record. It was the first time that the 300-mark was breached in the shortest format of the men's game.

Highest score in T20

During Nepal's record-setting innings at the Zhejiang University of Technology Pingfeng Cricket Field in Hangzhou, Kushal Malla scored a century in 34 balls to record the fastest T20I century by any batter. Dipendra Singh Airee's nine-ball 50 in the same innings is the fastest 50 in T20 cricket.

Mongolia were bundled out for just 41 in the match. The 273-run victory is the biggest win (by runs) in T20 cricket.

India held the record for the highest score by a full-member team before Zimbabwe's 344/4 against Gambia broke the record in the same month. India scored a mammoth 297/6 against Bangladesh in the third match of the T20 series in October 2024. Sanju Samson scored a 40-ball century. India went on to win the match by a 133 runs.

Before Zimbabwe, Nepal and India, Afghanistan and the Czechia jointly held the record for the highest total in a T20I innings.

Sunrisers Hyderabad's 287/3 against Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 season is the highest score recorded by a team to date in the IPL. Travis Head's 102 off 41 and Heinrich Klaasen's half-century saw SRH post the highest score in IPL history.

Bengaluru responded with a 262/7 in their 20 overs riding on a quickfire 85 by Dinesh Karthik but fell short.