T20 WC 2024: Decoding WI's unbeaten run in group stage
West Indies topped Group C in the ongoing 2024 ICC T20 World Cup as they advanced to the Super 8 stage unbeaten. The co-hosts won all their four games in the round and would be raring to extend their sensational run. On June 18, they demolished Afghanistan by 104 runs in the final league game. Let's decode WI's run in the group stage.
Summary of WI's campaign
WI successfully chased down 137 against PNG in their tournament opener. Akeal Hosein's fifer meant they thrashed Uganda by 134 runs in their next fixture. They sealed the Super 8 berth with a 13-run win over NZ. Sherfane Rutherford (68*) and Alzarri Joseph (4/19) starred in the game. Nicholas Pooran (98) shined against Afghanistan as WI posted 218/5 and later recorded a comfortable win.
Highest powerplay total in T20 WCs
The Afghanistan game saw WI record the highest powerplay total in T20 WCs (92/1). They went past Ireland's 91/1 against the Netherlands in the 2014 edition. Overall, this is the fourth-highest powerplay total in T20I history and the second-highest for WI. In 2021, they posted 98/4 against Sri Lanka.
Highest T20 WC total for WI
The 218/5 against Afghanistan is now WI's highest total in the T20 WC. It is also the highest score of the ongoing event as Rovman Powell's men went past Australia's 201/7 against England and Sri Lanka's 201/6 against Netherlands. No other team owns a 200-plus score in the competition. Overall, this is the fifth-highest total in the competition's history.
WI also script these records
WI have now won eight T20Is on the trot, their longest winning streak in the format. For the first time, they won four successive matches in the T20 WC. The Caribbean team also recorded two of their biggest T20I win in terms. While they demolished Uganada by 134 runs, they beat the Afghan team by 104 runs.
Records in the Uganda game
Uganada were bowled out for 39 against WI, the joint-lowest total in T20 WC history. Akeal Hosein became the first WI bowler to claim a T20 WC fifer in that game. Hosein, who claimed 5/11 in his four overs, recorded the second-best figures for a left-arm spinner in the tournament's history. Hosein is only behind Sri Lanka's Rangana Herath (5/3 versus NZ, 2014).
Rutherford's brilliance versus NZ
A majestic 68* from Rutherford meant WI compiled 149/9 while batting first against NZ after being reduced to 30/5. As per Cricbuzz, WI posted the highest score after losing five wickets inside 30 runs in a Men's T20I (only full-member teams). Only Australia's Cameron White (85* versus Sri Lanka, 2010) owns a higher score while batting at six or lower in T20 WC history.
Pooran scripts these records
Pooran (98 versus Afghanistan) recorded the joint-third-highest T20 WC score by a WI batter. The southpaw hit Azmatullah Omarzai for three sixes and two fours in the fifth over. As the pacer also conceded 10 extra runs, he bowled the joint-most expensive over in T20 WC history (36 runs). Pooran hit the third-joint-most sixes in a T20 WC innings (8 versus Afghanistan).
Here are the other key performers
Pooran has clobbered 164 runs at a strike rate of 150.45. No other batter has touched the 100-run mark for WI at the event. Andre Russell has scored 62 runs at a strike rate of 172.22 besides picking five wickets (ER: 6.77). Hosein, Alzarri, and Gudakesh Motie have scalped nine, nine, and seven wickets, respectively. All three bowlers have economy rates of under seven.
