Who is Kushal Malla, the Nepal batter who scored the fastest-ever T20I century in Asian Games 2023?

Nepal player Kushal Malla scripted history in the opening encounter of the men's cricket event at the 2023 Asian Games in Hangzhou. The 19-year-old smashed an unbeaten 137-run knock off just 50 deliveries, smashing the record for the fastest T20I hundred in history, having scaled the three-figure mark in just 34 deliveries.

His efforts and a record-breaking fifty from Dipendra Singh Airee enabled Nepal to post an insurmountable total of 314-3 at the Pingfeng Campus Cricket field on Wednesday.

Kushal Malla is a left-handed batter who bowls left-hand spin bowling as well. He has represented Nepal in 29 ODIs and 15 T20I matches to date and has one ODI hundred to his name as well.

He made his international debut in 2019 against Zimbabwe in the Singapore T20 tri-series, where he was dismissed for just two runs and conceded 28 runs off his three overs of bowling.

Kushal Malla came into the spotlight after scoring a fifty as a 15-year-old (15 years and 340 days) in his maiden ODI appearance in 2020. He scored 50 runs off 51 deliveries to rescue Nepal from 47-4 in their ICC Men's Cricket World Cup League 2 encounter against the United States of America in Kirtipur. By scoring the crucial fifty, he broke his fellow countryman Rohit Paudel's record.

Apart from being the youngest batter to score a fifty in ODIs, Kushal also holds the record for being the third youngest player to reach the 50-run mark in the shortest format. He notched an unbeaten 50 in the finals of the Nepal Tri-Nation T20I series against the Netherlands at the age of 17 years and 50 days to enter the record books.

His only ODI century to date came in the ACC Premier Cup in July 2023. He made an unbeaten 108 off just 64 deliveries to propel his side to a huge win against Oman. It made him the eighth youngest player to score a ton in ODIs.

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Kushal Malla only scored eight runs in the 2023 Asia Cup

The youngster was part of the Nepal squad that participated in the 2023 edition of the Asia Cup recently. Drawn in Group A alongside India and Pakistan, the emerging side exited the competition without a win to their name.

Kushal Malla was dismissed for six runs and two runs in Nepal's matches against Pakistan and India respectively. His recent exploits in the Asian Games are bound to give him a lot of confidence, which he could potentially build on alongside a promising Nepalese side.