WI Vs PNG, T20 World Cup Highlights: Roston Chase Stars As West Indies Beat Papua New Guinea By Five Wickets In Guyana

West Indies beat Papua New Guinea by five wickets in their T20 World Cup opening match on Sunday. The West Indies chased down the target of 137 with six balls to spare with Roston Chase remaining not out on 42 off 27 balls while Brandon King made 34. For PNG, Assad Vala was the most successful bowler with two wickets for 28 runs. Sent in to bat, Papua New Guinea made 136 for 8. Sese Bau top-scored for PNG with 50 off 43 balls while wicketkeeper Kiplin Doriga remained not out on 27. For the West Indies, Andre Russell (2/19) and Alzarri Joseph (2/34) took two wickets apiece. Get all the scores and updates for WI vs PNG, T20 World Cup 2024 match right here. (Scorecard | More Cricket News)

Papua New Guinea Squad: Tony Ura, Sese Bau, Assad Vala(c), Lega Siaka, Hiri Hiri, Hila Vare, Chad Soper, Kiplin Doriga(w), Alei Nao, Kabua Morea, Semo Kamea, Jack Gardner, John Kariko, Charles Amini, Norman Vanua

West Indies Squad: Brandon King, Johnson Charles(w), Roston Chase, Nicholas Pooran, Rovman Powell(c), Shimron Hetmyer, Andre Russell, Romario Shepherd, Akeal Hosein, Gudakesh Motie, Alzarri Joseph, Shai Hope, Obed McCoy, Sherfane Rutherford, Shamar Joseph

Who will tonight's match at the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 between WI and PNG? Check our match prediction here -

Expect a sluggish, and slow track. The highest total at this venue is 169. Expect something of that sorts tonight.

“I think it's a mixture of both [Challenge and expectation]. It's definitely a challenge. When you're playing in front of your home crowd, it can be good and it can be bad. But we're trying to look on the positive side of things and see that the fans will come out just anticipating, hoping that we'll play good cricket to entertain them.

WI captain Rovman Powell won the toss and elected to field in Guyana. Here's what he said at the toss.

"We are going to bowl first. It is a fresh wicket, we will hope to restrict them and then our batters can chase it down. It is going to be the same Providence wicket and it provides us an opportunity to play good cricket. I am excited and the team is excited to win a home WC, it is something we are looking forward to and hopefully we can deliver. We have two all rounders and three spinners."

It looks like a good wicket even though there's been rain around for the last two days. We have the right balance at the moment with a lot of all rounders. The preparation has been very good, we have been here for over two weeks and are looking forward to the tournament.

West Indies (Playing XI): Johnson Charles, Brandon King, Roston Chase, Nicholas Pooran(w), Rovman Powell(c), Andre Russell, Romario Shepherd, Sherfane Rutherford, Akeal Hosein, Alzarri Joseph, Gudakesh Motie

Papua New Guinea (Playing XI): Tony Ura, Sese Bau, Assad Vala(c), Lega Siaka, Hiri Hiri, Charles Amini, Kiplin Doriga(w), Alei Nao, Chad Soper, Kabua Morea, John Kariko

Teams on the way out as it's time for the national anthems for either sides. Action to kick-start soon.

Romario Shepherd brings the first wicket of the match as he dismisses Tony Ura (2) as the PNG batter prodded his bat and send the delivery to the wicket-keeper's hands.

Two early dismissals left the PNG side reeling in the power play but Assad Vala is playing nicely for the minnows with a nice six off Roston Chase's over.

What A Catch! T20 WC 2024 has already begun with it's theme of spectacular catches. Here's one in WI vs PNG

PNG were never meant to show disdain to the WI bowling attack however they have been better than most of the minnow sides have been in the past. Despite that, PNG find themselves four down inside 10 overs and 57 runs on the board.

PNG - 57/4 (10 Overs)

Andre 'Dre' Russell picked up 50 T20I wickets as WI scalped the fifth wicket of the PNG innings. Charles Amini was the batter to be dismissed as the co-host look to bundle out the associate nation for a small total.

A clinical bowling performance from the West Indies restricted PNG to 136/8 in their 20 overs. Sese Bau scored a memorable half-century, their first-ever in a WC, as contributions from Kiplin Doriga (27) and Assad Vala (21) helped them towards a decent finish. For WI, Dre Russ picked up two wickets.

An early wicket of Johnson Charles was the ideal start that PNG would have hoped for thanks to a brilliant bowling from Alei Nao before rain made way to halt the game in Guyana.

Action resumes as rain seems to have disappeared with the players now back on the field to get things back on track.

After Johnson Charles' early dismissal, WI have ramped up in their chase of 137 with Brandon King and Nicholas Pooran on the attack against PNG attack. West Indies need more 103 runs in 90 balls with nine wickets in hand.

PNG are not giving up in this contest. It seemed that Brandon King and Nicholas Pooran will run away with the contest but it wasn't to be as Papua New Guinea struck to remove the WI batters to give them some hope in match 2 of the T20 WC.

West Indies required 43 runs in 30 balls and have six wickets in hand. PNG are making a match out of this, but the 15th over from Amini has somewhat let loose the pressure that was built after the wicket of Rovman Powell (15).

Woah! WI are five down and still need 40 runs in 24 balls and have now five wickets in hand. 'Dre Russ' in, what do we have in store now?

West Indies camp will be heaving a sigh of relief after that win. PNG were so close and causing an upset in the T20 WC but Roston Chase (42 not out) and Andre Russell (15) took the matters on to their own hands to take the WI to a 5-wicket win. PNG can be happy with their performance as they gave the two-time champs, something to think about.

PNG 136/8 (20 Overs)

WI 137/5 (19 Overs)

Here's the all-rounder speaking about his crucial knock. "Very pleased to start the tournament with a win and to take the team over the line. I knew that it was hard for the batters coming in, gave myself time and backed my skills. I watched the PNG batters, they took their time and once they got it in it was easy to score. I have worked hard, had a preparation camp in Antigua and brought that confidence into the game. We don't want to take any team lightly, they (PNG) are here which means they are deserving, we want to play the same way we would play India or Australia."

We knew we missed a trick towards the end. Another 15-20 runs would've been nice. But from the wickets we lost early, to post 136 was a good effort. Yeah, really happy with the way we fought. Got wickets in key moments. It's an opportunity and challenge we look forward to. Want to play our best cricket against the best players. He's been helpful with the wickets and conditions (talking about Phil Simmons).

Their plans were simple, and they play some good cricket. It's important to get two points, and that's what we did. It's 10-15 too much (PNG's total). As a bowling group, that's what we want to tighten up. Since I turned captain, 70-80 percent team has been playing together. Starting from the bowling effort, he bowled very well (talking about Chase). And then towards the end, to hold his composure in a pressure game in WC, it's pleasing for us. Won't up to the straps to the level we want to play. We were at 60-70 percent. Hopefully we can correct that for the second game.

That was a close call for the West Indies as they defeated PNG by five wickets in Guyana. Namibia vs Oman is the next game, 4:00 AM start. Till then, goodnight from us here.