West Indies allrounder Roston Chase’s unbeaten 42 saved West Indies from registering their first defeat of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024.
Being a co-host West Indies were scheduled to face Papua New Guinea to play their first match of the 2024 T20 World Cup. West Indies who were once a threatening team of the format face consecutive failures in the ICC events.
With the home venue advantage, the Windies were expected to make things right by shining in the 2024 edition of the T20 World Cup. But in their first encounter, West Indies struggled to make a comfortable victory against PNG.
Roston Chase’s batting performance rescued the co-host from a drastic start. Winning the toss, West Indies decided to bowl first while PNG made a struggling start by losing their first two wickets for 7 runs.
Though PNG lost their wickets at regular intervals, Sese Bau on the other end made a steady inning and scored a half-century which led PNG to near 100 runs mark before his dismissal.
Following his dismissal in the 17th over, PNG was in need of making some bold shorts to make an improvement in their scoreboard. PNG’s wicketkeeper Kiplin Doriga made a handy 27 runs from 18 balls and led Papua New Guinea to register 136 runs for 8 wickets loss in 20 overs.
While chasing, West Indies lost one of their opening batter Johnson Charles for a golden duck. Following his dismissal, Nicholas Pooran and B King made a steady partnership and scored 61 runs for the second wicket.
John Kariko broke the half-century stand by dismissing Nicholas Pooran for 27 runs who scored it at a strike rate of just 100.
Soon after Pooran’s dismissal, King too lost his wicket for 34 runs in the 10th over bowled by Assad Vala. Though West Indies lost their wickets in a crucial stage, Windies allrounder Roston Chase with his 27 balls 42 runs, led the West Indies to register their first victory of the tournament by beating PNG by 5 wickets.
Chase won the Player of the Match award for his match-winning knock. West Indies will play their next match of the tournament against Uganda on June 8 in Providence Stadium, Guyana.
