Australia thrash Zimbabwe by 100 runs: Here're records broken
Australia cruised to a comfortable 100-run victory over Zimbabwe in the 3rd match of the Twenty20 Tri-Series at Harare. Australian opener Aaron Finch bludgeoned Zimbabwe's bowling attack to take his side to 229 before the Australian bowlers restricted Zimbabwe to 129/9. Aaron Finch (172) slammed the highest individual total in T20Is. Here are the records that were broken in this fixture.
Record opening partnership in T20Is
The opening partnership of 223-runs between Australian openers Aaron Finch and D'Arcy Short is the highest ever in T20Is. However, it is the second highest across all of T20 cricket. RCB duo Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers had stitched a record partnership of 229 runs in IPL. They had achieved this feat against Gujarat Lions back in 2016.
Highest individual score in T20Is
Finch's knock of 172 is the highest individual score by any batsman in T20Is. It is also the second highest in all of T20 cricket. Finch fell short by 3 runs to level Gayle's record score of 175, which he slammed against Pune in IPL. The previous top score in T20Is was also Finch's 156. He now has two 150+ scores in T20Is.
Finch slams highest percentage of runs scored by a batsman
75.1% of Australia's runs were scored by Aaron Finch, which is the highest by any player in a T20 match. The previous best was 71.77% by Kamran Akmal. Akmal had scored 150 out of 209 runs posted by Pakistan in the National T20 Cup in 2017. In T20Is, the record was held by New Zealand captain Kane Williamson, who had scored 70% of runs.
Most balls faced by openers
Aaron Finch and D'Arcy Short's opening partnership consisted of 116 balls, which is a record in T20Is. In all of T20 cricket, there have been two instances of a duo facing 120 balls; Lou Vincent and Shahriar Nafees in the Bangladesh Premier League in 2013 and Pakistan duo Kamran Akmal and Salman Butt in the National T20 Cup in 2017.
Most balls faced in a T20I
Aaron Finch needed 76 balls to score his 172. It is the most number of balls faced by any batsman in a T20I innings. Further, it is the second-highest across all of T20 cricket. Zubair Ahmed had faced 77 balls in a Haier T20 Cup fixture in 2014.
Second Australian to score three consecutive fifties
Finch is only the second Australian cricketer to score 3 consecutive 50-plus scores in T20Is. Shane Watson was the first Australian to achieve the feat between 2011 and 2012. Aaron Finch has now hit 10+ sixes in T20Is for the second time. No man, other than West Indian Chris Gayle, has achieved this feat twice.
Second batsman to break his own top-score in a format
Aaron Finch has become the second player to break his own record for the highest individual score in a format. West Indies legend Brian Lara is the only other player to achieve this landmark feat. He had broken the record for highest individual score in Tests, when he bettered his own score of 375 with a knock of 400* against England in 2004.
This is just the second encounter between these two sides
This is only the second T20I between Zimbabwe and Australia. Surprisingly, the previous game between these two teams was played in the World T20 in 2007 and Zimbabwe won that fixture by 5 wickets.
