Aaron Finch bettered his highest individual T20I score against Zimbabwe in the third T20 of the tri-series in Harare. When Finch departed, rather bizarrely by being hit wicket, he had become the highest run scorer in T20I. His knock of 172 runs from 76 balls with 16 fours and 10 sixes was laden with boundaries and records on the way. It was rather fitting that Finch bettered his own record of 156 runs with a six by mauling Chris Mpofu over extra cover.
During his knock and partnership with D Arcy Short for the opening wicket, they put together 223 runs for the highest partnership in T20I cricket. With his 172 runs, Finch also became the highest scoring captain in the format. However, Finch missed out by 4 runs in becoming the highest run scorer in the shortest format. Currently, Chris Gayle holds the record for the highest score in T20s with the West Indian scoring 175 runs in the 2013 Indian Premier League. The previous biggest partnership in T20Is was shared between Martin Guptill and Kane Williamson against Pakistan in 2016 as they accumulated 171 runs.
Zimbabwe had won the toss and put Australia in to bat with Finch in explosive form right from the word go. The right hander scored 50 runs from 22 balls before bringing up his second T20I hundred in 50 balls.
“Feels good. The wicket played a lot better than we thought. It’s coming on quite nicely. Yeah I did know about it ( holder of two highest individual T20I scores), it’s just one of those days where few things went my way. I took the strike from Short a bit, but that kind of innings for him will also help. The wicket’s very good as we know the ball travels here,” he said following the knock.
Finch has been in incredible form this year having scored 398 runs at an average of 199, with a strike rate of 218.68 in T20Is. The powerful right-hander has only been dismissed once in matches against England, New Zealand and Pakistan in 2018, putting up scores of 20*, 36*, 18*, 84 and 68* before his record-breaking knock against Zimbabwe.