Shreyas Iyer blazed his way into the records book on Thursday with his 55-ball 147-run knock to register the highest T20 score by an Indian cricketer.
Iyer’s dominating show ensured Mumbai opened their Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy campaign on an empathic note with a 154-run victory over Sikkim at the Emeralds Heights International School ground in Indore.
Batting first, Mumbai posted a mammoth score of 258/4 in their stipulated overs and then reduced Sikkim to 104/7. Iyer surpassed his IPL teammate, Rishabh Pant’s 128 for Delhi Daredevils to top the honours. The 21-year-old right-hander struck 15 sixes and seven fours in his innings, including a 35-run over off Sikkim medium-pacer Tashi Bhalla.
Incidentally, Iyer’s 15 sixes also saw him take the record among Indian batsmen for most sixes in a T20 innings from Pant (12). Iyer is now perched tied-fourth with Windies hard-hitter Chris Gayle on the overall list.
Highest score by an Indian in T20 history ☑
Most sixes by an Indian in a T20 innings ☑O Captain, Our Captain!#SyedMushtaqAliTrophy #ShreyasIyer#ThisIsNewDelhi #DelhiCapitals pic.twitter.com/TCbNJ03lZm
— Delhi Capitals (@DelhiCapitals) February 21, 2019
“I was going at 20 runs an over when I got out. I could have [gone for a double century]. There is always a lot of risk involved in going for a big score. But it’s not a big deal [missing out on a double ton]. You don’t play for records.”
“I started off a bit slowly. I thought I would play the Powerplay overs and keep rotating the strike. After the Powerplay, I suddenly changed gears. Everything fell in place. I never thought I would be able to achieve something like this. It gives me great satisfaction doing it for the Mumbai team,” said Iyer about his thunderous knock after the match.
Highest T20 scores by Indian cricketers:
147 – Shreyas Iyer for Mumbai in 2019
128* – Rishabh Pant for Delhi Daredevils in 2018
127 – Murali Vijay for Chennai Super Kings in 2010
126* – Suresh Raina for Uttar Pradesh in 2018
125 – Unmukt Chand for Delhi in 2013
