5 Highest individual scores in T20 internationals

T20 cricket is the shortest format of cricket where each team plays 20 overs. As the overs are limited, the batsmen tend to play fearlessly, resulting in a number of quick-paced innings.

The craze of T20 cricket first made an appearance at the inaugural T20I World Cup hosted by South Africa in 2007. The number of fans of such quickfire cricket kept increasing from thereon, which gave rise to various domestic leagues around the globe. But the international matches still receive more attention.

As T20 cricket is most suited to power hitters, the West Indians and the Australians have dominated the format. These two teams have traditionally had plenty of big hitters; in fact, the top 5 individual scores in T20Is belong to batsmen from these two sides alone.

Here’s a look at the top 5 individual scores in T20Is:

#5 Shane Watson - 124*

Shane Watson is a right-handed all-rounder, and is one of the rare players who can bowl tidily and also be explosive with the bat.

Watson is the ideal cricketer for the white-ball formats. He possesses the talent of handling both pace and spin comfortably, and can send the ball sailing into the stands with very little effort.

The Australian stalwart made his T20I debut against South Africa in 2006. His highest individual score is 124 off 71 balls with a strike rate of 174.65, which came against India. This also happens to be the fifth largest score ever in a T20I.

Watson also has had huge amount of success playing in the IPL, and has multiple IPL centuries to his name.

#4 Evin Lewis - 125*

Evin Lewis is a batting power house hailing from the West Indian islands. He is an attacking left-handed batsman, and made his debut against Afghanistan in the 2016 World T20 hosted by India.

The opener registered his first T20I ton against India in only the second match of his career, off just 48 balls. The Mumbai Indians player went on to register his highest individual score of 125 from 62 balls with a strike rate of 201.61 against the Men in Blue.

Due to his power hitting, many people call him Junior Gayle. He has proved to be a game changer in the shortest format of cricket.

#3 Glenn Maxwell - 145*

Glenn Maxwell is an aggressive batsman from Australia who has an unorthodox and free-flowing game. Maxwell has used his exceptional skills to revolutionize limited overs cricket.

He made his T20I debut against Pakistan in 2012. He plays shots all around the park and is known for his slog sweeps and reverse sweeps.

When in form, Maxwell’s batting is a treat to watch. Because of his big sixes, fans have labelled him ‘Big Show’.

The Australian holds the third position in the list of highest individual scorers with a dazzling 145 off 65 balls at a strike rate of 223.08 against Sri Lanka.

#1 & #2 Aaron Finch - 172 and 156

Aaron Finch is a world class batsman in the T20I format. The destructive batsman from Australia scores runs quite rapidly, and also stays at the crease for a long time.

Finch made his T20I debut against England in 2011. He has the highest individual score of 172 in 76 balls at a gigantic strike rate of 226.32 against Zimbabwe. The strike rate itself suggests that he is a batting freak.

Finch regularly scores daddy hundreds which makes him a one-man army. When he gets going, he can wins matches for Australia single-handedly.

And yes, the man with the second highest individual score is again Aaron Finch himself. He blasted 156 from just 63 balls at a mammoth strike rate of 247.62 against England back in 2013.

Finch has proved to be the most reliable and destructive opener in world cricket, and could well make more appearances in this list by the time his career is over.