The West Indies, the most probable side in the shortest format of the game, have now had a long trophy drought in ICC tournaments since their last famous win against England in the finals of the T20 World Cup 2016. They had even failed to qualify for the main tournament of the 50-over World Cup held last year in India.
Despite their underwhelming performances and lack of composure, the co-hosts are still considered one of the favorites for the T20 World Cup in 2024. Cricket fans would want the mighty men from the Caribbean islands to bounce back this year.
However, nothing started as expected for the West Indies team, as they failed to dominate an infirm Papua New Guinea in their opening match of the World Cup. On Sunday, the West Indies bowlers did a fair enough job to restrict the newcomers to a low total of 136.
Such a low total seemed to be a piece of cake for the big hitters from the island nation. Despite a slow track and the early wicket of Charles, the windies were on track with the chase until Pooran fell to John Kariko at the start of the 9th over. This was when the PNG spinners started to squeeze the West Indies middle-order as they ended 97/5 at the end of the 15th.
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However, despite their early fall, West Indies batter Roston Chase kept his calm and showed a glimpse of his experience when he shattered the hopes of the newbies and denied them their first-ever win in the ICC T20 World Cup. This is where PNG failed to capitalize on the early upset due to a lack of international experience.
Chase seemed quite confident about the chase as he said this at the post-match interview
“So, it was just that for me, and then backing myself in the end to really take it deep. And then, as you said, I put my foot on the gas. Obviously, we had the likes of Shepherd and Russell to come, so I never had any doubt that we would be able to get away with the ball in the end. So that was just my mindset.”
Though the West Indian side chased the total in the 19th over with Chase and Russell taking them over the line, they would lose the status of being the top contenders for the World Cup 2024 after this game.