OTD: Aaron Finch shattered world record for highest score in T20Is

On August 29, 2013, the cricket world witnessed a jaw-dropping batting performance from Aaron Finch. In Southampton, the Australian opener scored a thunderous 156 runs against only 63 deliveries—still the highest individual score in T20 Internationals.

With the help of Aaron's explosive innings, Australia, batting first, registered 248—at the time, the second-highest total in T20Is. He thrashed 11 boundaries and a staggering number of 14 over boundaries. Finch went off the mark with a six, and later on in the match he touched every record in the same way. In the England bowling line-up with Stuart Broad, Steven Finn, and Jade Dernbach, they found no reply against the batting exhibition.

During the innings, Finch played some outrageous shots, which took the standards of Twenty20 cricket to the next level. After Aaron Finch, Shane Watson was the second-highest scorer for Australia with 37. Literally, the match turned into a one-man show. England started to lose wickets while chasing the gigantic target. Their middle-order batters started to fight back in a proper way.

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Joe Root went berserk 

Joe Root went out of the box to score an unbeaten 90 off 49. Ravi Bopara scored a quick-fire 45. Those individuals are not enough to match the required run rate. Mitchell Johnson, Josh Hazlewood were expensive but managed to claim a brace each. England got 209 runs in exchange for 6 wickets; Australia won the match by 39 runs. 

"It's good to come here from Australia 'A' side and play some good cricket. It was one of those days, not easy for the quicks, no spin, so I managed to get it away," Aaron Finch said after the match. Then the captain of Australia, George Bailey, compared Finch's innings with Chris Gayle's batting in the Indian Premier League (IPL). "I think the only innings I've seen like (Finch's) was Chris Gayle in the IPL."