NEW DELHI: The Ivory Coast Cricket team on Sunday created an unwarranted record after being shot down for just seven runs in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Sub-Regional Africa Qualifiers.
In their group C match against Nigeria in Lagos, Ivory Coast registered the lowest ever total in a men’s T20I history.
This is now the first time that a team is bowled out for a single-digit total.The previous lowest total was 10 runs, scored by Mongolia against Singapore in September 2024 and Isle of Man against Spain scored in 2023.
In the Nigeria vs Ivory Coast clash, Nigeria won the toss and elected to bat first.
They scored 271 for four in their 20 overs with their opener Selim Salau scoring a century before walking out retired hurt.
When Ivory Coast came out to chase a steep total, seven out of their eleven batters got out on ducks.
Three Ivory Coast batters scored a run each while the highest individual score for them was — 4 off 6 balls — scored by their opener Ouattara Mohamed.
Nigeria’s left-arm spinner Isaac Danladi and left-arm pacer Prosper Useni picked up three wickets each.
In the chase, Ivory Coast were bowled out for seven runs in just 7.3 overs and Nigeria won the match by a massive margin of 264 runs.
This is now also the third-largest margin of victory in men’s T20 Internationals.
Zimbabwe’s 290-run win over Gambia last month and Nepal’s 273-run win over Mongolia at the 2023 Asian Games in Hangzhou are the other biggest victory margins in men’s T20Is.