T20 WC: Windies go berserk, slam history-making highest powerplay score against Afghanistan in St Lucia

Gros Islet [St Lucia], June 18 (ANI): Riding on the back of Nicholas Pooran’s 98 and Johnson Charles’ 43 West Indies registered the record for the highest powerplay score in the history of the T20 World Cup.

The Caribbean side accomplished the record by scoring 92 in the first six overs against Afghanistan in a Group C match on Tuesday, June 18 at the Daren Sammy National Cricket Stadium in Gros Islet, St Lucia. They beat the previous record of 91 runs set by the Netherlands against Ireland in 2014 in Bangladesh’s Sylhet International Stadium.

England is ranked third in the list of powerplay scoring, having scored 89 runs against South Africa at Mumbai’s iconic Wankhede Stadium in 2016.

In the same match, the Proteas raced to 83 runs. India is also on the list, having scored 83 runs against Scotland at the Dubai International Cricket in 2021.

Pooran also registered the highest individual score in the ongoing T20 World Cup. The 28-year-old batter scored 98 in 53 balls to help his team reach a dangerous 218-run total in the final group game before the Super Eight phase.

The wicketkeeper-batter broke the previous mark of 94 not out set by Aaron Jones of the United States versus Canada.

Pooran’s greatest score in T20 internationals surpassed the previous record of 82, and he also passed the 2000 T20I run mark during the innings.

Coming to the match, after being put to bat first, the West Indies made their intentions obvious by aiming for huge shots. Brandon King, on the other hand, struggled to get started and left after scoring 7 runs off 6 balls. Azmatullah Omarzai removed WI opener King in the second over. From there, Nicholas Pooran and Johnson Charles played their shots to put the Caribbean squad in command.

Pooran’s brutal assault of 98 runs propelled West Indies to 218/5 against Afghanistan in the final game of Group C of the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup 2024 at the Daren Sammy National Cricket Stadium on Monday (local time).

West Indies notched up the highest first-innings total in the ongoing marquee event and their highest total in the T20 World Cups.