Zazai's 162 leads Afghanistan to record T20I total

Dehradun, February 23: Hazratullah Zazai blasted an astonishing 162 not out from 62 balls as Afghanistan recorded the highest total in Twenty20 international history on Saturday, amassing a remarkable 278-3 against Ireland in Dehradun.

A host of records were broken in Afghanistan's innings as Ireland's bowlers came in for the heaviest of punishment.

Zazai set a new individual benchmark with 16 sixes, surpassing the previous best of 14, while his opening stand of 236 with Usman Ghani (73 off 48) represented another record, bettering the alliance of 223 between Aaron Finch and D'Arcy Short for Australia versus Zimbabwe last July.

Finch's individual score of 172 in that game proved just beyond Zazai's reach, but Afghanistan were able to comfortably surpass the record team total of 263-3 that Australia set against Sri Lanka in September 2016, despite scoring just seven in the first two overs.

Their innings featured 22 maximums in all - yet another record - while Zazai posted the third-fastest hundred in T20Is after reaching three figures in 42 balls.

Ireland, who lost the opening ODI at the same venue, were left requiring an outlandish 279 to keep the series alive.