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The first six overs in a T20I game are always crucial as it sets the tone to determine the course of the match. Over the decade, the T20Is have witnessed batters taking full advantage of the field restrictions, with a barrage of boundaries in the powerplay.
The likes of Chris Gayle, Rohit Sharma, David Warner are a few standout names who enjoy taking the bowlers from the word go. On that note, let’s have a look at the 10 highest scores made by teams in the powerplay:
10) West Indies – 86 runs
In 2015, during the second match of the T20I series between South Africa and West Indies at the iconic Johannesburg, the visitors thrashed Proteas bowlers all around the park and chased down the massive target of 232 runs with four balls to spare.
It was Chris Gayle who set the stage on fire with a sensational 90 run knock from just 41 deliveries. The ‘Universe Boss’ gave his side a tremendous start as West Indies scored as many as 86 runs in the powerplay. Gayle scored the maximum of 38 runs off just 14 balls.
9) West Indies – 88 runs
In December 2018, at Dhaka, West Indies completely outplayed Bangladesh in the third T20I match. Evin Lewis powered the Caribbeans to a massive 190 runs total in 20 overs. The left-handed batter gave his side a flying start as the visitors made 88 runs in the first six overs.
Lewis scored as many 62 runs off just 24 balls in the powerplay. In the match, he ended up making 89 runs from 36 deliveries, including 6 fours and eight sixes. After scoring 190, the Windies restricted Bangladesh at 140 to win the contest by 50 runs.
8) South Africa – 88 runs
During the second T20I between South Africa and England at Johannesburg in 2016, the hosts came out all guns blazing and ended up chasing the huge 172 runs target within 15 overs. It was a joint attack on English bowlers by two South Africa veterans AB de Villiers and Hashim Amla.
The duo took England bowling attack to the cleaners, scoring 88 runs in the powerplay. While De Villiers made 41 off 18, Amla scored 40 off 18 deliveries as well. The pair continued the assault and stitched a humungous 125 runs partnership for the opening wicket to completely take the game away from visitors. De Villiers lost his wicket at 71 off 29, but Amla stayed unbeaten on 69 as Proteas won the contest by nine wickets.
7) England – 89 runs
In another high-scoring contest between England and South Africa during India’s 2016 T20 World Cup, the English team chased down 230 runs with two balls to spare. The foundation of the counter-attack was laid by Jason Roy, who powered England to a flying start.
Roy scored 43 off just 16 balls, with the help of five fours and three sixes, as England made 89 runs in the powerplay. Senior batter Joe Root carried on with the momentum, scoring 83 off 44 as England won the match.
6) West Indies – 91 runs
Not often one sees the batters going absolute berserk in the low-scoring matches, but this happened during the opening T20I between West Indies and Bangladesh at Sylhet in 2018 when Windies chased down 130 runs in 10.5 overs only.
West Indies opener Shai Hope completely demolished the Bangladesh bowlers, inspiring the visitors to reach 91/1 in the first six overs. Hope made 52 off 17 deliveries during the powerplay and took the game away from the hosts. It was the third-fastest T20I fifty at that time.
5) Australia – 91 runs
In the fifth match of the Trans-Tasman Twenty20 Tri-Series between Australia and New Zealand at Auckland in 2018, the Aussies managed to chase down the colossal target of 244 runs in 18.5 overs with five wickets in hand.
The opening pair of David Warner and D’Arcy Short combined to take Kiwi bowlers to the cleaners. The explosive batting by the opening pair powered Australia to reach 91 runs in the first six overs. While Warner contributed 39 off 16 balls, Short made 38 from 20 deliveries.
4) Netherlands – 91 runs
During the 12th Match of First Round Group B of the 2016 T20 World Cup, Netherlands scored nearly 200 runs inside 14 overs against Ireland. While chasing 190, Netherlands went on to score 193/4 with 37 balls to spare.
In the first six overs, Stephan Myburgh and captain Peter Borren destroyed Ireland’s bowling attack and made 91 runs. Borren scored 31 off 15 balls and got out on the last ball of the powerplay. Myburgh, however, was the chief architect behind the explosive start. He scored 57 runs from just 21 deliveries in the powerplay.
3) Ireland – 93 runs
Senior Ireland batters Paul Stirling and Kevin O’Brien powered Ireland to a humungous 93 runs in the powerplay when they took on West Indies at St George’s in January 2020. Batting first, the Irish team got off to a flying start, with Stirling scoring the maximum runs in the first six overs.
While Kevin made 23 off 11, Stirling scored 67 from 25 balls. Stirling ended up scoring 95 off 47 deliveries with the help of 6 fours and eight sixes to inspire Ireland to 208/7. In reply, West Indies fell four runs short of the total.
2) West Indies – 98 runs
The second-highest score in the powerplay came in March earlier this year when West Indies captain Kieron Pollard did a Yuvraj Singh against Sri Lanka at Coolidge in the opening T20I. Windies chased down the paltry 132 inside 14 overs, thanks to an explosive knock by skipper Pollard.
After the first five overs, the hosts had scored 62 at the loss of four wickets, with Akila Dhananjaya having figures of 2-0-17-3. But nobody anticipated what was there to see in the last over of the powerplay.
Dhananjaya came to bowl his third over, and Pollard took him to the cleaners by sending all the six balls into the stands to equal the world record set by only a few individuals in the history of the game. This inspired West Indies to score as many as 98 runs in the powerplay.
1) South Africa – 102 runs
Until March 26, 2023, the highest score in the powerplay belonged to the West Indies when the then Caribbean skipper Kieron Pollard smashed 6 sixes helping his side score 98 in the powerplay. However, on Sunday, this record was broken by South Africa after Quinton de Kock and Reeza Hendricks smacked 102 runs in the first six overs of the second T20I against West Indies, making South Africa the first team to get past the 100-run mark inside the powerplay.
In the process, De Kock also smashed the quickest half-century for the Proteas and fifth overall. The left-handed batter took only 15 deliveries to hit a fifty in the shortest format. De Kock slammed 62 runs in the powerplay off just 24 balls while Hendricks smashed 35 from 12 deliveries.
Note: Updated till March 26, 2023
