Nicholas Pooran and Azmatullah Omarzai. (Photo Source: Disney + Hotstar)
The T20 World Cup fever is in full swing and the action is gradually moving towards the Super Eight round of the marquee event. But before the cricket lovers were preparing for intense battles ahead, the hosts West Indies (WI) played some explosive cricket on Tuesday. Notably, the hosts took on Afghanistan (AFG) in Match 40 of the Group stage, at the Daren Sammy National Cricket Stadium, in St Lucia, on June 16.
After winning the toss, Afghanistan invited West Indies to bat first. The decision of Rashid Khan was seemingly going in the favour as Azmatullah Omarzai struck early by cleaning up batter Brandon King in the second over. Thereafter, the duo of Johnson Charles and Nicholas Pooran go into the act of rebuilding a solid platform for the batters without letting the tempo go down.
Albeit, Pooran had other ideas and would leave everyone awestruck with a historic feat. The moment came in the fourth over of the innings when Omarzai was bowling his just second over of his bowling spell. The big hitter gave the Afghan bowler a taste of Caribbean calypso as he went bonkers and smashed 36 runs in his over. As a result, the Afghani allrounder ended up becoming the fifth bowler to leak as many runs in the history of T20Is. Besides, Nicholas Pooran went on to surpass Chris Gayle for becoming the batter to hit most sixes for West Indies in the format.
Check out Nicholas Pooran’s explosive knock here:
WATCH: Nicholas Pooran in devastating touch as Azmatullah Omarzai concedes 36 runs from one over 🤯#WIvAFG | #T20WorldCuphttps://t.co/r6pYX6u9rS
— T20 World Cup (@T20WorldCup) June 18, 2024
Azamatullah Omarzai inflicted a brilliant runout to end Nicholas Pooran’s run carnage
After Nicholas Pooran was on the verge of smacking a memorable century for West Indies to set the T20 World Cup 2024 stage ablaze. Notably, it was a twist in the tale of Afghanistan’s misery as it was none other than Azmatullah Omarzai who effected a sensational runout dismissal to end Pooran’s wrath.
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However, the moment came too late as by then West Indies had already notched up a mammoth 215 runs with just two balls to spare.