Spin bowling dominated as the West Indies crushed England by 30 runs in their T20 World Cup clash in Mumbai on Wednesday. The spin duo of Gudakesh Motie and Roston Chase grabbed three and two wickets each, bowling England out for just 166 in 19 overs while chasing a target of 197. Sam Curran fought hard with an unbeaten 43 for England, getting some support from Jacob Bethell (33) and Phil Salt (30).
Before that, Sherfane Rutherford played an absolute blinder, smashing an unbeaten 76 to push West Indies to 196/6. Rutherford’s explosive knock came off just 42 deliveries, featuring two fours and seven massive sixes. Roston Chase and Jason Holder also contributed handy scores of 34 and 33 after West Indies batted first. England’s bowling was led by experienced leg-spinner Adil Rashid and fast bowler Jamie Overton, who each picked up two wickets.
TOSS
England won the coin flip and chose to bowl first.
PLAYING XI
West Indies (Playing XI):
Brandon King, Shai Hope(w/c), Shimron Hetmyer, Rovman Powell, Sherfane Rutherford, Roston Chase, Romario Shepherd, Jason Holder, Akeal Hosein, Gudakesh Motie, Shamar Joseph
England (Playing XI):
Philip Salt, Jos Buttler(w), Jacob Bethell, Tom Banton, Harry Brook(c), Sam Curran, Will Jacks, Liam Dawson, Jamie Overton, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid
WEST INDIES
The fightback started with an exciting but short-lived partnership between Shimron Hetmyer and Roston Chase. Hetmyer kicked things off by finding the boundary off Archer, then launched a six and four off Curran, forcing England to switch up their bowling attack. Chase gave Will Jacks’ off-spin a rough welcome with three consecutive boundaries, while Hetmyer finished the over in style with a slog-sweep six, taking 19 runs from it. But his aggressive knock ended when Jamie Overton got him to mistime a pull shot, resulting in a top edge.
Rutherford walked in to steady the ship and was sitting on 8 from 10 balls when he watched the settled Chase depart, falling lbw to an Adil Rashid googly that brought up the veteran’s 400th T20 scalp. At the ten-over mark, West Indies looked in trouble at 79/4 before Rutherford shifted into top gear.
His back-to-back sixes against Jacks surely revived the innings. Moreover, these powerful shots brought new energy to the team’s batting performance. As per the next over, Rashid got a tough chance to dismiss him at the boundary, but Rutherford survived and hit another six. We are seeing that he got good support from Rovman Powell only, who helped him fight against Archer who came back. Rashid actually bowled with great pressure and definitely controlled the scoring by taking two wickets for just 16 runs with his different bowling styles. Powell mistimed the legspinner’s delivery and got out just after the drinks break itself. This further damaged his team’s position in the match.
The game actually changed completely in the last five overs when West Indies definitely showed their famous hitting power. Rutherford found good support in Jason Holder to launch further counterattack. The partnership itself helped them fight back again. Further, overton actually got hit for a four and six as Rutherford definitely reached his fifty in just 29 balls, while Holder smashed three big sixes off Curran to score 21 runs in nine balls.
We are seeing England’s fast bowlers only struggling under pressure in the final overs. Basically Rutherford hit his sixth six to complete fifty runs with Holder, and by the last over the same momentum had totally changed to their side. Both batters actually hit Overton’s balls out of the ground, as West Indies definitely scored 66 runs in the last five overs to reach 196 – a good total that looked impossible earlier.
ENGLAND-
We are seeing that Holder only got the same treatment when Phil Salt hit him for 24 runs in one over. As per the team’s plan, West Indies made an early bowling change, and Romario Shepherd got the dangerous opener out for 30 runs in just 14 balls with his second ball. Jacob Bethell actually hit many boundaries quickly to definitely get England scoring runs fast.
England was doing well at 67/1 after the PowerPlay, but we are seeing that the spin bowling only made the big difference in the match. Moreover, we are seeing Chase getting out to the spinner only after hitting one ball to the deep field, as Buttler took the catch when the bowler changed his bowling angle. As per the bowling performance, Motie gave away a six to Bethell from a low full toss but got Tom Banton out cheaply in his first over.
Motie actually bowled four overs and definitely got three important wickets during his spell. We are seeing Bethell getting bowled out when his off stump was hit, and he only made 33 runs from 23 balls. In his last over, we are seeing Motie giving England another big problem by getting Harry Brook out with his own bowling, and England was only at 131/5 after 14 overs with Motie taking 3 wickets for 33 runs.
Also, basically, after Motie got out, England tried to score fast but lost the same wicket in the next over. Chase burned a review against Curran, and Jacks further wasted one after getting trapped in front, the situation itself becoming difficult for the team.
England surely had good chances with 62 runs needed from 30 balls, as Curran was well-set at the crease. Moreover, they still had strong lower-order batsmen who could hit big shots. Powell’s smart relay catch surely gave Akeal Hosein a wicket in his last over. Moreover, England reached 141/7 after 16 overs. We are seeing that two run-outs after that only damaged their last hopes. Archer was actually caught out quickly, and definitely one over later Liam Dawson could not make it back for the second run. Moreover, curran surely lost his final batting partner when Chase took a sharp low catch in the deep field, giving Rashid a golden duck on the last ball of the second-last over. Moreover, this dismissal completed England’s innings at 166 runs.
Brief scores:
Also, west Indies actually scored 196/6 in 20 overs with Sherfane Rutherford making 76 runs, while England definitely got bowled out for only 166 in 19 overs. West Indies won by 30 runs as their bowlers Gudakesh Motie and Roston Chase definitely bowled well to restrict England.
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