WI vs SA: Nicholas Pooran’s blitz helped West Indies win the first T20 international against South Africa. After winning the Test series, South Africa rested some big names for the T20I series, while West Indies also rested some of their key players. The first WI vs SA game took place on Friday at Brian Lara Stadium in Trinidad.
South Africa posted a decent total of 174/7 after Tristan Stubbs played his career-best knock of 76 runs off 42 balls. Patrick Kruger also scored a useful 44 off 32. Chasing the score, West Indies got off to a flying start.
Both openers added 84 runs in seven overs. Alick Athanaze scored a 30-ball 40, while Shai Hope scored 51 off 36. But after that, it was Nicholas Pooran’s show.
WI vs SA: Nicholas Pooran went past Maxwell, Buttler and Suryakumar Yadav on the six-hitting list
Pooran, who is known as one of the cleanest strikers of the ball, was at his best on Friday night in the first WI vs SA T20I. He took all the South African bowlers apart and smashed a 20-ball fifty. He scored an unbeaten 65 runs off 26 balls at a strike rate of 250 in the first WI vs SA game.
Pooran smashed two fours and seven sixes. With this, Pooran climbed to third spot in the six-hitting list in the T20 internationals. Before this knock, he was 6th on the list with 133 sixes. But with seven sixes, he went past Jos Buttler, Glenn Maxwell, and Suryakumar Yadav.
Pooran has hit 139 sixes in 88 innings. He has also scored 2141 runs at an average of 27.44 and a strike rate of 137.77, with 13 half-centuries. The Southpaw is only behind Martin Guptill (173) and Rohit Sharma (205) on this list. But these two have retired now.
So, Pooran has a great chance to top this chart. Speaking of the game, West Indies won the game and are 1-0 ahead in the series. These two will now lock horns in the second game on August 25 at Brian Lara Stadium in Trinidad. Rovman Powell and his men will be eyeing a series win over South Africa after they lost the Test series.
