South Delhi Superstarz defeated North Delhi Strikers in the Delhi Premier League on Saturday, amassing the second-highest T20 total ever, 308/5, thanks to a barrage of record-breaking sixes from Ayush Badoni (165) and six maximums from Priyansh Arya (120) in under one over.
The 12th over of South Delhi’s innings saw six sixes from Arya, an India U-19 player, but Badoni was the more aggressive of the two.
The global record for most sixes in T20 cricket was hit by Badoni, who played for the Lucknow Super Giants in the Indian Premier League.
With a total of eight boundaries and nineteen sixes in just 55 balls, Badoni’s 165 broke the joint record held by Estonia’s Sahil Chauhan and former West Indies player Chris Gayle for the most sixes (18) in a T20 innings.
In the 2017 Bangladesh Premier League match, Gayle struck 146 runs for Rangpur Riders versus Dhaka Dynamites off 69 balls, including 18 sixes and five fours.
During his 41-ball innings of 144 for Estonia against Cyprus in a T20 International in June of this year, the Indian-born Chauhan hit 18 sixes.
In addition to reaching his century in just 40 balls, left-handed batsman Arya hit ten sixes and as many fours to reach 120 off 50 balls.
The left-handed hitter Arya struck six consecutive sixes in the 12th over of the innings, clearing the ropes long-off, long-on, and even over the bowler’s head, with bowler Manan Bhardwaj feeding him each of the six balls in his hitting arc.
Together, Badoni and Arya’s 286-run stand for the second wicket in T20 cricket surpassed the record for the biggest partnership on any wicket.
In the process, Badoni and Arya passed the opening duo of Lachlan Yamamoto-Lake and Kendel Kadowaki-Fleming from Japan, who had earlier this year faced China and put on 258 for the first wicket.
The highest total by any team in T20 cricket history, 314/3 in 20 overs, was set by Nepal against Mongolia in the men’s competition of the Asian Games in 2023. South Delhi’s score of 308/5 fell six runs short of that mark.
