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West Indies all-rounder Jason Holder delivered a match-winning performance by picking up four wickets, conceding 27 runs against Nepal in the group-stage match held at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Sunday.
With the emphatic nine-wicket victory, West Indies became the first team to qualify for the Super Eights, while Nepal were officially eliminated from the tournament. After receiving his Player of the Match award during the post-match presentation, Holder shed light on the slow nature of the pitch and highlighted the difficulty of hitting the ball through the line. "I thought the ball did a little bit more. Probably held on the surface a little bit more upfront. And it became a little bit more difficult to hit through the line of the ball. We were able to get some movement as well, which was key. And I thought our bowlers bowled a really tight line to them as well upfront, which was very, very key in terms of our execution," said Holder, according to Cricbuzz. The pacer also praised his fellow bowlers, especially Matthew Forde, for his brilliant spell. When asked about his death bowling, he mentioned his efforts to be unpredictable and his practice of bowling yorkers. Holder said, "Credit goes not only to me, but to Matthew (Forde) as well. I thought Matthew bowled an outstanding spell upfront to set the tone for us. And then we were able to adjust from there." The Shai Hope-led Windies chased down a modest target of 134 runs in just 15.2 overs to secure a comfortable win over the Asian nation. Brandon King (22 off 17 balls) and Hope (61 not out off 44 balls) added 43 runs for the first wicket. After that, Shimron Hetmyer (46 not out off 32 balls) joined Hope and took the Windies past the line comfortably. Speaking on his yorkers in death overs, he said, "It's something I've been practising now for a little while, you know. I think for me, it's just trying not to be too predictable. I'm also just varying the positions at the crease and just trying to execute a few more yorkers." Earlier, the West Indies opted to bowl after winning the toss and began with spinner Akeal Hosein. Kushal Bhurtel and Aasif Sheikh opened the innings for Nepal. It was a messy start for Nepal as they lost Kushal Bhurtel on the score of one to Hosein on the fifth ball of the very first over of the match. The captain Rohit Paudel was sent back to the pavilion for just five runs in the fourth over, after getting hit on the pad for lbw by Matthew Forde. The Rhinos lost their third wicket in the powerplay to Jason Holder in the form of Aasif Sheikh (11), who hit a couple of boundaries at the start. Nepal crumbled to 22 runs for the loss of three crucial wickets at the end of the power play. Following the powerplay, Aarif Skeikh was dismissed for two runs by in-form bowler Jason Holder. Nepal was 46-5 in the 11th over after Lokesh Bam's dismissal at the tally of 13 runs by Shamar Joseph. A small partnership of 23 runs took place between Dipendra Singh Airee and Gulsan Jha for the sixth wicket before Roston Chase cleaned up Gulsan at 11 runs. Dipendra was the only positive from Nepal's innings. He played a major role in the most crucial partnership of 54 runs for the seventh wicket with Sompal Kami. The partnership ended when Holder dismissed Dipendra for 58 runs off 47 balls. Nepal ended the innings at 133/8. Brief Score: Nepal 133/8 in 20 overs (Dipendra Singh Airee 58, Sompal Kami 26; Jason Holder 27/4) vs West Indies 134/1 in 15.2 overs (Shai Hope 61, Shimron Hetmyer 46; Nandan Yadav 24/1). (ANI)
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