Guide

Highest & Lowest Powerplay score in T20 International

Who has the highest and the lowest power play score ?

Ankitjit Singh
Ankitjit Singh

Last Updated: 2024-06-04

Umaima Saeed

7 minutes read

Indian players celebrate following the dismissal of South Africa's Heinrich Klaasen (not seen) during the third one-day international

Image Credits: RODGER BOSCH/AFP via Getty Images

The game of the T20s has changed the dynamics of how cricket is played. It is fair to say that the impact of the format has its impact on the Tests and the ODIs as the batters look to score runs quickly rather than getting settled at the crease upfront and unleashing themselves. The T20 format demands batters to go after the bowlers right from the start and they too without caring about their wickets take the attack on right from the ball 1.

The first 6 overs of the T20 game, which are also known as powerplay overs, allow the added advantage to the batters to go hard as there are only two fielders allowed on the boundary lines. This gives batters extra freedom as they look to hit every ball out of the park, maximising the first 6 overs and giving the team a brutal start. However, it doesn’t happen always. In conditions, where the ball swings and seams, the powerplay overs can make it difficult for batters to score runs. The powerplay overs therefore can be extremely high-scoring or sometimes hard for batters. In this piece, we take a look at the Highest & Lowest Powerplay scores in T20 International

Top 5 highest powerplay score in T20 international 

Top 5 highest powerplay score in T20 international

S.NoTeamOppositionScore in PowerplaysFinal TotalYear and Venue
1South AfricaWest Indies102/0259/42023, Centurion
2West IndiesSri Lanka98/4134/62021, Coolidge
3IrelandWest Indies93/0208/72020, St George’s
4West IndiesBangladesh91/1130/22018, Sylhet
5NetherlandsIreland91/1193/42014, Sylhet
6AustraliaNew Zealand91/0245/52018, Auckland
7EnglandSouth Africa89/3230/82016, Mumbai
8West IndiesBangladesh88/1190/102018, Dhaka
9South AfricaEngland88/0172/12016, Johannesburg
10New Zealand Indies86/2102/42018, Mount Maunganui
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Image Credits: Aljazeera

Image Credits: Aljazeera

South Africa holds the record for the highest powerplay score in the T20 international. The Proteas team in the game against West Indies in 2023 scored 102 runs inside the first 6 overs at the SuperSports Park in Centurion. It was mayhem by the Proteas openers in Quinton de Kock and Reeza Hendricks.

They added 102 runs inside the first six overs as they batted tremendously. This was also the first time in the history of the T20Is that a team went past the 100-run mark in the powerplay and etched their name in the record books.

South Africa broke the record of West Indies, who had registered 98 runs in the power play in the game against Sri Lanka in 2021. Even though the Carribean batters lost 4 wickets inside the 6 overs, they kept going hard at the bowlers and ended with a score of nearly 100 at Coolidge.

Ireland team is also amongst the teams with the highest powerplay score in the T20 international. They slammed 93 runs against West Indies in the game at the St George’s in 2020. Openers Paul Stirling and Kevin O Brien played sensationally well and made opposition bowlers look clueless.

West Indies, Netherlands and Australia also feature in the list of highest powerplay scores in T20 international. They all scored 91 runs against Bangladesh, Ireland and New Zealand in 2018, 2014 and 2018 respectively and provided immense entertainment to the fans.

West Indies and South Africa yet again feature in the list as they both scored 88 runs in the first 6 overs of the game against Bangladesh and West Indies respectively in 2016 and 2018. England scored 89/3 against South Africa in Mumbai in 2016 while New Zealand slammed 86/2 against West Indies in 2018.

Top 5 lowest powerplay score in T20 international 

Top 5 lowest powerplay score in T20 international

S.NoTeamOppositionScore GroundYear
1PakistanWest Indies13/4Mirpur2014
2West IndiesPakistan13/3Kingstown2013
3Sri LankaWest Indies14/2Colombo2012
4NetherlandsSri Lanka15/4Chattogram2014
5BangladeshPakistan16/3Mirpur2011
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Image Credits: Royal Challengers

Image Credits: Royal Challengers

Pakistan Cricket Team holds the record for the lowest powerplay score in T20 international. They managed just 13 runs in the first 6 overs against West Indies in the match at Mirpur in 2014. Not only this but they also went on to lose 4 wickets inside the powerplay.

West Indies also sit on the list with 13 runs to their name against Pakistan in 2013 during a match a Kingstown. They managed just 13 runs and lost three wickets in the 6 overs. Sri Lanka scored 14/2 against West Indies at Colombo in 2012 as they sit third on the lowest powerplay score in T20 international.

The Netherlands also feature the lowest powerplay score in the T20 international. They ended with 15/4 against Sri Lanka in Chattogram in 2014. Bangladesh has the fifth-lowest powerplay score in the T20 international. They had scored 16/3 against Pakistan in Mirpur in 2011.

India's highest powerplay score in the T20 international 

India's highest powerplay score in the T20 international

S.NoOpposition Score Venue Year 
1South Africa 78/2Johannesburg 2018
2Sri Lanka 77/1Nagpur 2009
3New Zealand 76/1Johannesburg 2007
4Australia 74/1Sydney 2016
5Sri Lanka 70/0Ranchi 2016
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India registered their highest powerplay score in the T20 international against South Africa in 2018 at Johannesburg. Even though they lost their wickets they kept going hard and ended with 78 runs in the first 6 overs of the game. With this, they surpassed their previous best score of 77/1, which came against Sri Lanka in Nagpur in 2009.

FAQs

Who has the highest powerplay score in t20 history?

Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Sunrisers Hyderabad has the highest powerplay score in t20 history. They achieved the feat in the IPL 2024 game against Delhi Capitals at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi. The duo of Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma went berserk and scored 125 runs in the first 6 overs, surpassing Nottinghamshire's 106/0 against Durham at Trent Bridge in 2017.

What is India's highest score in t20 in powerplay?

The highest score for India in T20I in power play is 78/2. They achieved the feat in the game against South Africa in 2018 at Johannesburg. Shikhar Dhawan was the key architect behind that as he played a sensational innings and helped the team post the total on the board.

Also read: Highest powerplay score in Pakistan Super League

Who has the lowest powerplay score in history of IPL?

Royal Challengers Bengaluru has the unwanted record of lowest powerplay score in history of IPL. During the game against Rajasthan Royals in 2009, they managed just 14 runs in the first 6 overs and also lost two wickets as well. The game took place at Cape Town. 

Ankitjit Singh
Ankitjit SinghSports Writer

I am just a guy in his early 20s whose dream was to play cricket but now believes his job is to serve cricket. I picked the cricket bat at the age of 3, pursued science as I grew up but eventually followed my heart to come into journalism and do the second-best thing in the world after playing the sport.