The co-host West Indies got a close win against Papua New Guinea (PNG) by 5 wickets.
PNG scored 136/8 in 20 overs and WI in reply got some major failures in the batting but somehow they managed the victory in 19 overs and scored 137/5 in their first encounter of the T20 World Cup.
Caribbean skipper Rovman Powell, after winning the toss, chooses to bowl first.
Sese Bau showed his patience and scored a brilliant half-century. He scored 50 runs in 43 balls in which he scored 6 fours and a six. Then towards the end keeper Kiplin Doriga showed some powerful hitting and scored 27 runs in 18 balls. Due to Sese’s knock, the team got close to 140’s.
Andre Russell and Alzarri Joseph got 2 wickets each. Akeal Hosein, Romario Shepherd and Gudakesh Motie got 1 wicket each.
In the chase, the Caribbean batters struggled a bit in the middle and at one point of time the asking rate was above 10. Despite having a destructive batting unit, the batters scored runs slowly. Roston Chase was the man behind the team’s success as he scored unbeaten 42 runs in 27 balls.
Brandon King at the start scored 34 runs in 29 balls while Nicholas Pooran got 27 in 27. Andre Russell also helped a bit Roston during the chase towards the end and he scored unbeaten 15 runs in 9 balls.
The inexperienced bowling unit of PNG showed a great fight against the home team as they restricted them to play shots easily. Skipper Assad Vala got 2 wickets while Alei Nao, Chad Soper and John Kariko got 1 wicket each.