West Indies showcased their explosive form in their final group stage match of the 2024 T20 World Cup against Afghanistan. The Men in Maroon posted 218/5 in the first innings, with 36 of those runs coming in the fourth over bowled by Azmatullah Omarzai in St. Lucia on Tuesday, June 18.
The Men in Maroon started strong despite the early loss of Brandon King. Omarzai, who took the initial wicket, bowled his second over when the hosts were 37-1 midway through the powerplay.
Nicholas Pooran faced Omarzai and immediately attacked with a couple of boundaries. Omarzai struggled with extras, including five wides and a no-ball. The latter half of the over saw Pooran hitting two fours and two sixes, resulting in a 36-run over for the West Indies. Pooran scored 98 runs off 53 balls, hitting six fours and eight sixes. He narrowly missed a century, getting run out in the final over.
Azmatullah Omarzai concluded his spell with figures of 1-41 against the West Indies
Omarzai’s second over, in which he conceded many runs, ended up being his last of the innings. After giving away nine runs and taking a wicket in his first over, his costly second over brought his figures to 1-41, meaning he bowled only half of his allotted overs.
Other bowlers, such as the in-form Fazalhaq Farooqi and Rashid Khan, also struggled, ending with economies of 12.70 and 11.20, respectively.
Pooran surpasses Gayle as West Indies achieve their highest T20 World Cup score
Nicholas Pooran, the star wicketkeeper-batter, made history on Tuesday (June 18) as the first cricketer from the West Indies to surpass 2000 runs in T20Is. His impressive innings of 98 runs off 53 balls against Afghanistan in the T20 World Cup 2024 match boosted his career tally to 2012 runs in 92 T20Is.
Nicholas Pooran scored rapidly in the powerplay and death overs, hitting 80 runs off 27 balls with six fours and eight sixes. However, he struggled in the middle overs, scoring just 18 runs off 26 balls without hitting any boundaries.
Nicholas Pooran scored 37 runs off Rashid Khan in just 16 balls, the highest Rashid has conceded to any batter in a T20I. This is second only to Chris Gayle’s 42 off 16 balls in an IPL match in 2018 and Manan Vohra’s 37 off 14 balls against him in IPL 2017.
Pooran was one of four batters in men’s T20Is to be run out in the nineties, against Afghanistan. Previously, Chris Gayle was the only other player to achieve this at a T20 World Cup, scoring 98 against India in 2010.
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