MUMBAI, India – The West Indies Senior Men’s team continued their impressive start to the ICC T20 World Cup with a commanding nine-wicket victory over Nepal on Sunday at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. The result marked their third consecutive win, maintaining a perfect record in the tournament, which is being hosted across India and Sri Lanka.
The victory also ensured that the Caribbean side became the first team to secure a place in the Super Eight stage, achieving the milestone with one group match remaining against Italy in Kolkata on Thursday, February 19.
Heading into the tournament, the West Indies were pre-seeded as the second-ranked team in their group. As a result, they will retain their seeding for the Super Eight regardless of which team tops their group.
Drawn in Group C for the group phase, the West Indies are scheduled to face India, South Africa, and Zimbabwe in the Super Eight.
The Caribbean side will begin this stage on February 23 against Zimbabwe at the Wankhede Stadium, followed by South Africa in Ahmedabad on February 26, before concluding the Super Eight stage against India at Eden Gardens in Kolkata on March 1.
The second round of the tournament will feature two groups of four teams, competing in a round-robin format. The top two teams from each group will then advance to the knockout stage.
On Sunday, the West Indies were at their clinical best in romping to the comprehensive win against Nepal.
After inserting the Asian outfit, pacers Matthew Forde and Jason Holder along with spinner Akeal Hosein had Nepal rocking at 23 for 4 just outside the powerplay.
Holder improved his tally of wickets to seven in three matches with man of the match figures of 4 for 27 to be in top five wicket takers of the tournament so far.
Nepal were restricted to 133 for 8 with four other bowlers: Hosein, Forde, Roston Chase and Shamar Joseph all taking a wicket apiece.
In pursuit, the West Indies eased their way to 43 without loss with scintillating stroke play from captain Shai Hope and Brandon King.
King departed for an attacking 22, but that paved the way for an eye-catching unbroken 91 run second wicket stand between Hope and the team’s leading scorer in the tournament to date, Shimron Hetmyer.
Hope hit five fours and three towering sixes in his 61 and crossed 1500 T20I runs in the process while Hetmyer hammered four fours and two sixes in his 46 from 32 balls.
Hetmyer’s tally is now at 133 runs in three innings at an impressive average of 66.50.
The West Indies have found several match winners in the previous encounters with Hetmyer leading the way with a blistering half century of 64 against Scotland to secure a 35-run win.
Romario Shepherd bagged his second international hat-trick in four months to reduce Scotland and close out the win which kick started the campaign.
In the team’s second encounter against England, Sherfane Rutherford blasted a career-best 74 from 42 balls to lift the team to a comfortable 30-run win over the arch-rivals. Gudakesh Motie also spun a web with 3 for 33 to secure the crucial points ahead of the Nepal clash.
Captain Shai Hope emphasised the team’s focus on maintaining momentum while keeping sight of the ultimate goal.
“When we got on the plane to come here, that was the first step, and we all want to lift the trophy but there is a process to get there by playing our best cricket and peaking at the right time and growing as a strong unit.”
Hope said.
The West Indies will take on Italy in their final group game on Thursday at 11:00 a.m. local time at Eden Gardens in Kolkata.
Fans can watch the matches on ESPN Caribbean and Disney+ across the Caribbean region at 1:30 a.m. AST/12:30 a.m. in Jamaica.
