What is the highest team total in Men’s T20 World Cup history?
You will be surprised to know that the record for the highest team total in the history of the men’s T20 World Cup is held by Sri Lanka. In the year 2007, the Sri Lankan batting lineup went bonkers against Kenya’s bowling lineup and amassed a total team score of a mammoth 260 runs for the loss of six wickets at the end of 20 overs.
The match was played on September 14, 2007, at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg. It was just the eighth match of the tournament where Sri Lanka and Kenya went against each other on a batting-friendly pitch. It was a Group C match of the 2007 T20 World Cup.
The match started with Kenya winning the toss and choosing to field first. If Kenya’s captain had known any better, he would have never elected to bowl first. Two Sri Lankan players, Gayan Wijekoon and Jehan Mubarak, made their debuts in that match against Kenya.
Sri Lankan openers Upul Tharanga and Sanath Jayasuriya came out to open the innings. Tharanga got out for a cheap 10, whereas Jayasuriya started smashing the bowlers all around the park from ball one. He went on to play a fantastic inning with 88 runs on 44 balls. He got into a partnership with Kumar Sangakkara, who scored an 18-ball 30 and took Sri Lanka on the path of a huge score.
The Sri Lankan captain, Mahela Jayawardene, played an absolutely stunning innings of 67 runs in just 25 balls. Him and Jehan Mubarak provided the late flourish to the innings as the debutant Jehan put the whole stadium on fire with his 13-ball innings of 46 runs.
All these contributions led Sri Lanka’s score to 260/6 at the end of 20 overs, making them a part of history. In return, Kenya could not even reach triple digits as they were bowled out for just 88 runs in 19.3 overs, losing the match by 172 runs against Sri Lanka.
This match was complete dominance by the Sri Lankan cricket team, as Sanath Jayasuriya was the player of the match for his 88-run innings at a strike rate of 200 and a bowling spell of 3-0-9-1 at an economy rate of just 3 runs per over.
