West Indies cruised into the Super Eights of the T20 World Cup with a commanding nine-wicket victory over Nepal at Wankhede Stadium. Captain Shai Hope led from the front with an unbeaten 61, while Shimron Hetmyer’s 46 ensured a comfortable chase of 133. Nepal’s Dipendra Singh Airee scored a fighting half-century
WI skipper Shai Hope during his 61 not out vs Nepal at Wankhede on Sunday. Pic/Satej Shinde
Riding on some superb bowling and solid top-order support, West Indies thrashed Nepal by nine wickets in their T20 World Cup Group C clash at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday. With their third successive win, the two-time champions have entered the Super Eights with a league game against Italy still to play.
Chasing 133-8, skipper Shai Hope (61 not out off 44 balls) and Brandon King (22) put on a 43-run stand for the opening wicket in just 5.3 overs. Shimron Hetmyer (46 off 32 balls) then joined his captain as the duo stitched an unbeaten 91-run stand for the second wicket.
Earlier, Nepal posted 133-8 in 20 overs, thanks mainly to Dipendra Singh Airee (58 off 47 balls) and No. 8 Sompal Kami (26 not out off 15 balls).
After securing a Super Eights berth, Hope said that WI’s goal is to win a third T20 World Cup title. “That’s a great feeling. That’s what we set out to do. We all want to lift the trophy, but there’s a process. Hopefully, we can continue to peak and keep growing as a strong unit in all departments. When the crunch moments come, we can seize them and ensure we are on top,” Hope said during the post-match press conference.
Meanwhile, after another disappointing outfit, Kami apologised to the 19,000-plus Nepal supporters who turned up at the Wankhede.
“Obviously [disappointed]. We didn’t play the way we did against England. We’re upset and want to say sorry to our fans. We’ll come back strongly,” Kami said.
Brief scores
Nepal 133-8 in 20 overs (D Airee 58; Jason Holder 4-27) lost to Wi 134-1 in 15.2 overs (S Hope 61*, S Hetmyer 46*) by nine wickets
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