10:48 AM IST We will have a bowling change at this end, as Gudakesh Motie has bowled out. Shamar Joseph will bowl out now. 3-0-24-2 so far.
10:39 AM IST Boy, that was a longggg wait for both, the dismissed and the new batters. Ali Hasan is the last batter in, replacing Thomas Draca. Not that it would matter, but at least for pride, Italy would love to finish off the game by playing out their 20 overs.
10:27 AM IST Team bowling effort – 3-0-19-0 for Jason Holder. 9 with the bat earlier. In his 300th international game, he could not contribute much, but will gladly take his team’s win. He is the only one of the 5-man attack who went wicketless, with Shamar Joseph and Matthew Forde sharing 7 wickets between them. In fact, it was a day out for the smiling assassin, Shamar – who not only picked 4 wickets, but also took 4 catches! There was hardly any passage of play where the bowling side seemed to be in pressure, as the Windies just did not allow any partnership to build. Additionally, they did not allow the opposition batters to run along with the score at any rate.
10:23 AM IST No momentum – Italy simply did not find any momentum during the run chase. 166 was by no means, a massive target but they just could not get things rolling at any stage. Lost the top three inside the Powerplay and struggled to forge a partnership at any stage. The highest partnership they managed was 25, when, for a brief moment, it seemed like Benjamin Manenti and Grant Stewart could achieve the task which had become mountainous by then. Just four batters managed double digits in a scorecard which had Mr. Extras as the fourth-highest scorer with a tally of 15.
10:18 AM IST No firepower – It is not often that we say that a West Indian innings lacked bite. After being put into bat, the Windies too, struggled with the bat. Barring skipper Shai Hope, who was brilliant with a fine 75 (46), only three others managed to reach double digits, which is pretty much like how Italy batted as well. It was a strange innings, with momentum not quite coming for the two-time champions for too long. Eventually, they managed to get to 165/6, which was at least 15-20 runs short, but their bowling attack made it look like a 190. Italy did their bit with the ball, not allowing the game to drift for too long. Barring Grant Stewart, everyone managed to contribute well, although Benjamin Manenti received a bit of a tap towards the end. Crishan Kalugamage stood out once again. Please stay tuned for the presentation.
10:12 AM IST Player Of The Match – For his stylish 75 (46). West Indies’ skipper SHAI HOPE has been adjudged the PLAYER OF THE MATCH. Hope says that he always thinks about himself as to how can he contribute. Explains that in a game, he is only batting other than keeping. Feels that the Windies could have had more impetus with the batting at the back end, but is still happy with the result. On the preparations and plans for this clash, Shai admits that when you face an unfamiliar opposition, you are pretty unsure of what you could get. Adds that you do plan, but there isn’t much information. Hence, he says that the Caribbeans tried to put more pressure against the new ball with the bat, and although they could not get too many, is pretty happy with the way his batters went about it.