It was a fight of grit and determination as the co-hosts, West Indies and the US, locked horns at Kensington Oval in Barbados in the sixth match of Super 8 of T20 World Cup on June.21. Experience prevailed over youth as the Caribbeans encountered little difficulty in disposing of the challenge of its younger partner by nine wickets with 55 balls to spare. For West Indies, it was its first win in two games of Super 8 while the US sunk to the bottom with two losses from as many games.
The Super 8 got off to an interesting start, with co-hosts West Indies losing its first game to England and the USA came close but went down fighting to unbeaten South Africa. Now, West Indies with a win has stormed back into the run for a berth in semi-finals while the USA finds itself on the elimination list.
Playing without its regular captain, Monank Patel, who is on the injured list, the US batters found the bowling of their opponents too hostile to handle. Opener Steven Taylor (2) with three runs on the board. Wicketkeeper-batsman Andries Gous and Nitish Kumar put up an excellent 48-run second wicket stand before Nitish left. He was sent back to the pavilion by Gudakesh Motie, who is known to break big partnerships. Nitish made 20 from 19 balls. Andries followed soon afterwards as Alzari Joseph got him caught by Shal Hope for 29 made from 16 balls.
Newcomer to the team, Milind Kumar (19 from 21 balls), Shadley van Schalkwyk (18 from 17 balls) and Ali Khan (14 not out from six balls) were the batters who helped the US get past 100-mark and end with 128 on board from 19.5 overs. Veteran Andre Russell (three for 31), Alzari Joseph (2 for 31) Roston Chase (three for 19) and Gudakesh Motie (one for 14) were the main tormentors of the US innings. Harmeet Singh, who played well in the game against South Africa, was out for a blob as he fell one of three victims of Roston Chase. Roston claimed wickets of Corey Anderson and Harmeet Singh on successive balls.
Windies were in no hurry to achieve an easy target set by their opponents. The opening pair of Shal Hope and Johnson Charles put on 67 runs in just 6.6 overs before being separated. It was Harmeet Singh who broke the partnership by getting Johnson Charles caught by Milind Kumar for 15 made from 14 balls.
At this stage, Nicholas Pooran joined Shal Hope as the later had taken upon himself the responsibility of scoring all the runs needed for an outright win. Shal smashed eight sixers and four boundaries in his unbeaten innings of 82. He treated all US bowlers with scant respect. When the Windies total reached 101 for one wicket in 9.4 overs, Shal Hope’s individual score read 74. So much was his dominance. Milind Kumar received the harshest treatment from the Caribbean batters as he was hit for 22 runs in one over.
After 10 overs, West Indies were 110 for 1, just 19 runs away from the target with 60 balls to play. Nicholas Pooran caught up with his senior partner as he hit three sixes and a boundary remained not out on 27.
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