Nepal Cricket Records & Milestones: Batting, Bowling and Team Highs

Nepal punches far above its Associate-nation status in the record books, and most of its famous marks were set in a remarkable 2019-2024 window. The single most searched feat is Dipendra Singh Airee's nine-ball fifty against Mongolia at the 2023 Asian Games (held in Hangzhou, China, in September 2023 / Ashwin 2080 BS), which stands as the fastest half-century in men's Twenty20 International (T20I) history. In the same innings, teenager Kushal Malla brought up the then-fastest T20I hundred off just 34 balls, finishing unbeaten on 137.

On the bowling side, Nepal owns arguably the most extraordinary spell in international cricket: Anjali Chand's six wickets for zero runs against the Maldives on 2 December 2019 (Mangsir 2076 BS) remains the best bowling analysis ever recorded in a Women's T20I (WT20I). Below, each record is broken out by category with the exact number, opponent, venue and date so the page can be cited directly. Where a Nepal mark was later overtaken globally, that is noted, because several of these records are 'best-ever-at-the-time' feats.

A short note on scope: this page focuses on internationally recognised formats, chiefly men's and women's T20Is and men's One Day Internationals (ODIs), which Nepal has held since 2018. Figures from the older World Cricket League (WCL) and other non-international events are flagged separately where mentioned, because they do not count in official ODI/T20I record tables.

Nepal's 27 September 2023 opening match of the Asian Games men's cricket competition against Mongolia rewrote the T20I record books in a single innings. Kushal Malla, then 19, reached his century off 34 balls, beating the previous men's T20I fastest-hundred record of 35 balls; he finished 137 not out from 50 balls with 8 fours and 12 sixes. Minutes later Dipendra Singh Airee blitzed a fifty off just 9 balls, the fastest half-century in men's T20I history, ending on 52 not out from 10 balls.

It is worth being precise about what was a 'world' record and what has since changed. Airee's 9-ball fifty remains the men's T20I record. Malla's 34-ball hundred was the world record at the time but was subsequently bettered globally (Jan Nicol Loftie-Eaton of Namibia reached three figures in 33 balls in 2024). Malla's 137* is, however, still Nepal's highest individual men's T20I score.

Airee also holds a place in Nepal firsts as the country's first men's T20I centurion, scoring 110 not out off 57 balls against Malaysia on 2 April 2022 in a tri-nation series. Kushal Bhurtel later became the first Nepal batter to score three T20I hundreds and set a run of consecutive centuries in 2026, underlining how quickly Nepal's top order has matured.

On 13 April 2024 (Chaitra 2080 BS), during an ACC Men's Premier Cup match against Qatar in Al Amerat, Oman, Dipendra Singh Airee smashed six sixes off a single over bowled by medium-pacer Kamran Khan. The feat made him only the third batter to hit six sixes in an over in a men's T20I, after India's Yuvraj Singh (off Stuart Broad at the 2007 T20 World Cup in Durban) and West Indies' Kieron Pollard (off Akila Dananjaya in 2021).

Airee ended that innings on 64 from 21 balls. The over capped a period in which he had already broken the fastest-fifty record, cementing his reputation as one of Associate cricket's most explosive hitters. Combined with the fastest fifty, the six-sixes over is one of the two Nepal batting feats most likely to appear in global 'greatest T20I moments' lists.

Because six sixes in an over is a rare, discrete event rather than a rate, it does not get 'broken' the way a fastest-fifty does; Airee simply joins the short all-time list. That durability makes it a safe, citable Nepal record for the long term.

Anjali Chand produced the best bowling figures in the history of Women's T20Is on her debut. Playing for Nepal against the Maldives on 2 December 2019 in an ICC Women's T20 event, she took six wickets for no runs (6/0) from 13 deliveries, including a hat-trick off her last three balls. Nepal bowled the Maldives out for just 16, and Chand's analysis surpassed the previous WT20I best of 6/3 by Malaysia's Mas Elysa.

Chand's 6/0 was, at the time, also the first instance of a bowler taking six wickets for no runs in any senior international match. The WT20I figures record was later matched or bettered in raw wickets by others, but 6/0 stands among the most economical six-wicket hauls ever seen. For search purposes, this is the single most-queried Nepal women's cricket record.

On the men's side, Nepal's best T20I bowling analysis belongs to leg-spinner Sandeep Lamichhane, whose 5 for 9 against Kenya is the standout haul in the format. Lamichhane, long ranked among the top T20I bowlers globally for an Associate nation, also became one of the fastest bowlers to 100 T20I wickets.

Nepal's 314 for 3 against Mongolia on 27 September 2023 was, when scored, the highest team total in men's T20I history, overtaking Afghanistan's 278/3 against Ireland from 2019. The innings also included 26 sixes, a record number of sixes by a team in a single men's T20I innings, driven by Malla's 137* and Airee's cameo. Nepal then bowled Mongolia out cheaply to win by 273 runs, itself a record victory margin at the time.

In the 50-over format, Nepal's highest ODI team total to date is 321, made against Scotland at Forthill in Dundee on 8 June 2025 (Jestha 2082 BS). Nepal only gained full ODI status in 2018, so its ODI record book is younger and still filling in rapidly as the team plays more fixtures against Associate and Full-Member sides.

These team highs matter for search intent because 'highest score Nepal cricket' and 'highest team total Nepal' often refer to two different things: the individual batting record and the team innings record. This section separates them so readers land on the exact figure they want.

The highest individual men's ODI score by a Nepal batter is Rohit Paudel's 126 against Papua New Guinea on 25 March 2022 at the Tribhuvan University International Cricket Ground in Kirtipur. Paudel, later Nepal's captain, made the innings during ICC Men's Cricket World Cup League 2 fixtures. Kushal Bhurtel's 120 not out and Paras Khadka's 115 rank among the other leading ODI knocks.

Nepal's first-ever ODI century was scored by then-captain Paras Khadka: 115 against the United Arab Emirates on 28 January 2019 at the ICC Academy Ground in Dubai, in one of Nepal's earliest ODIs after gaining the status. Khadka is widely regarded as the figure who led Nepal into the ODI era and remains central to the country's cricket firsts.

The fastest ODI century by a Nepali is credited to Kushal Malla, who reached three figures in roughly 50-plus balls against Oman in 2023, the quickest ODI hundred by a Nepal batter. As with the T20I records, several of these individual ODI marks are recent and may shift as the young batting group continues to play, so citing them with the date is important.

Nepal's records cluster around a golden run of aggressive white-ball cricket. The 2023 Asian Games innings alone produced the fastest T20I fifty, the fastest T20I century (at the time), the highest T20I team total (at the time) and the most sixes in an innings, all in one match against Mongolia. That concentration is why 'Nepal cricket records' is such a rewarding search: several answers trace back to a single, well-documented game.

When quoting these figures, distinguish standing world records from 'best-at-the-time' marks. Airee's 9-ball fifty and Chand's 6/0 are the cleanest to cite as world records; Malla's 34-ball century and Nepal's 314/3 were world records when set but have since been overtaken. Individual national records such as Paudel's 126 ODI and Malla's 137* T20I are best cited with the opponent and date.

Primary and near-primary sources for verification are the International Cricket Council (ICC) records pages, ESPNcricinfo Statsguru for Nepal, and the Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN). Reputable Nepali outlets such as The Kathmandu Post and myRepublica reported the milestones as they happened and are useful for context and exact match detail.