WI vs PNG Match Highlights And Report-T20 WC: The abilities of Roston Chase to play adeptly on slow tracks and against spinners and medium-pacers came to the fore for the West Indies in their first match of the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 against Papua New Guinea.
What was supposed to be a straightforward run-chase of 137 runs became tricky, threatening a major upset for the West Indies when they needed 40 runs in four overs and were five wickets down. Chase, though, stepped up and required two big overs to get WI on the board in the home World Cup.
As for PNG, their bowlers were brilliant and bowled admirably on the dry track at the Providence Stadium in Guyana to give the hosts a scare.
WI vs PNG Match Highlights And Report-T20 WC
WI captain Rovman Powell won the toss and elected to field first. PNG lost two wickets in 2.1 overs, with Romario Shepherd getting the outside edge of Tony Ura and Akeal Hosein bowling Lega Siaka. On the last ball of the powerplay, PNG captain Assad Vala fell to Alzarri Joseph with the score of only 34 runs. Hiri Hiri and Charles Amini were the next to go as Motie and Russell added to their wickets column.
Sese Bau, the 31-year-old PNG veteran, top-scored for his side with 50 runs in 43 balls. Around him, wicketkeeper Kiplin Doriga scored 27 runs in 18 balls as PNG ended their innings at 136. WI conceded nine extras.
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In the chase, Brandon King hit two fours in the first over, but at the other end, he lost his opening partner, Johnson Charles, to Alei Nao for a duck. King collected four more boundaries in the next two overs before Nicholas Pooran whacked Sese Bau for 6, 4, 6 as WI ended the powerplay at 52/1.
However, after the powerplay, the PNG bowlers tightened the screws on the WI batters with some wickets. After two cheap overs, John Kariko had Pooran (27 off 27) caught at long-on, and then Assad Vala had King (34 off 29). Boundaries dried up, and PNG crawled back into the game with the wickets of Powell and Sherfane Rutherford, both caught by the wicketkeeper.
Roston Chase, meanwhile, hit Amini for a slog-sweep six, while Russell walloped Kariko over deep mid-wicket.
With 31 runs needed in 18 balls, Chase smashed Assad Vala for two fours and a six in an 18-run over. He creamed a couple of fours in the 19th over to seal the game and take WI home.
Score summary: Papua New Guinea 136/8 in 20 overs (Sese Bau 50, Andre Russell 2/19); West Indies 137/5 in 19 overs (Roston Chase 42*, Assad Vala 2/28). WI defeated Papua New Guinea by 5 wickets.
Check Out:
- Namibia Vs Oman 2024 T20 World Cup Match Report
- WI vs PNG Match Highlights And Report-T20 WC
- West Indies vs Papua New Guinea Match 2 T20 WC Report
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