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West Indies rode on Alzarri Joseph's brilliant spell and Johnson Charles' decent knock to bounce back from nightmarish show against Scotland as they earned a facile 31-run victory against Zimbabwe in a crucial Group B match of the first round of the ICC T20 World Cup at Hobart on Wednesday (October 19).
Johnson's 45 off 36 guided Caribbeans to post a decent total of 153/7 and then Alzarri returned with a sensational spell of 4/16 to Irish innings for just 122.
While it was opener Johnson Chares, bolstered West Indies' innings, Rovman Powell's 28 off 21 and Akeal Hosein's 23 off 18 gave impetus to their team and helped them get past the 150-run mark.
Powell hit two sixes during his stay in the middle and reminded cricket fans of his immense ability with a bat in hand. One of the sixes was 104 metres long and it landed outside the stadium.
The monstrous hit, over the deep square leg region, left Rovman's teammate Akeal Hosein shellshocked. The footage was picked by by the International Cricket Council which they posted on Instagram and since then the video has gone viral which shows Akeal's shocking reaction.
Here's the video…
Earlier, star all-rounder, Sikandar Raza came up with a fantastic bowling effort to help Zimbabwe restrict West Indies to 153/7.
West Indies had gotten a solid start with the bat and were at 77/1 at one point. But Raza’s (3/19) had them struggling at 101/6 within a span of four overs. For the Windies, Charles Johnson top scored with 45 runs off 36 balls.
Batting first, West Indies were off to a shaky start as they lost the opener, Kyle Mayers, for 13 off 12 balls. The batter top-edged a delivery by pacer Blessing Muzarbani and it went straight into the hands of captain Regis Chakabva.
The next batter was Evin Lewis and he joined Johnson Charles. At the end of the powerplay in six overs, WI was at 49/1, with Lewis (8*) and Charles (18*) at the crease.
West Indies crossed the 50-run mark in 6.1 overs. A major highlight of the innings came in the 9th over when both batters smashed Ryan Burl for sixteen runs, including two fours and a six.
At the end of ten overs, WI was at 78/2, with skipper Nicholas Pooran (1*) joining Charles (39*). West Indies received two quick jolts in 13th over bowled by Sean Williams, with the bowler dismissing Pooran for 7 off 8 balls and running out a well-set Charles for 45 off 36 balls, consisting of three fours and two sixes.
The two-time champs were reduced to 97/4 and had lost their last three wickets within a space of 20 runs.
