This was not the usual T20I. For starters, a World XI was playing Windies – the reigning WT20 champions. Two, a commentator stood on field while action unfolded, chatting up players between deliveries and scattering for safety when the ball came towards him. Three, a runner was allowed. Finally, and most importantly, the funds received went towards a great cause, towards rebuilding the five cricket grounds in the Caribbean that were damaged by hurricanes Irma and Maria last year.
The result? A game that was played in high spirits and with the knowledge that something significantly good was coming out of it. No, the result! Oh. Windies blew away the ICC World XI side by 72 runs, buoyed by fine knocks from Evin Lewis, Marlon Samuels and Denesh Ramdin, and superb spells from Samuel Badree and Andre Russell.
The ropes at Lord’s were brought in by quite a bit. The expectations were well set. The organiser hoped for a high-scoring, adrenaline-rushing T20I that would not only leave the viewers asking for more, but also rake in the money.
Windies, like the seasoned T20I team it is, held its end of the bargain. Asked to bat first by Shahid Afridi, who led the side in the absence of the injured Eoin Morgan, they smashed 199 for 4. Evin Lewis teed off early with a sizzling half-century, and despite Chris Gayle’s early struggles, Windies enjoyed a strong start.
Afridi, dogged so badly by his injured knee that he was limping throughout, turned back the clock with some superb bowling. The legspinner read the pitch well, and slowed down his pace, keeping the Windies batsmen on their toes. He was awarded with the wicket of Andre Fletcher, and could have had Denesh Ramdin in the bag had Rashid Khan not dropped the chance at midwicket.
Apart from him, however, none of the other bowlers stood up. Mitchell McCleneghan, Rashid, Thisara Perera, Shoaib Malik and Sandeep Lamichhane all leaked at over 10 an over, with Russell and Ramdin going big. In the end, Windies ended with a total that proved to be more than enough.
That it was more than enough became apparent in as early as the fourth over of the chase. Tamim Iqbal, Luke Ronchi, Sam Billings and Dinesh Karthik were all back in the hut by then. A comeback looked almost impossible. Perera, however, would have none of those odds.
Afridi walked in with Billings as his runner, and the result, not entirely surprisingly, was comical most times the batsmen looked for quick singles. The rule of allowing the runner came as a special one-off from the ICC for this game. Once they trio settled in, they started to give the bowlers a run for their money. Perera went on to bring up his fifty off just 28 balls, giving World XI just a smidgen of hope, and their total a boost of respectability.
Afridi holed out for 11, and signalled the end of his international career – walking off to a rapturous applause from the crowd. Kesrick Williamson then pulled off a stunner off his own bowling to send back Perera, and leave the rest of the match as a foregone conclusion.
But the result mattered for little in this game. The fans got most of what they had come out to see – a great cricket event that encouraged reaching out to the affected and helping them out. Hopefully, the organisers did too.
Brief Scores: Windies 199/4 in 20 overs (Evin Lewis 58, Denesh Ramdin 44*, Rashid Khan 2-48) beat ICC World XI 127/9 in 20 overs (Thisara Perera 61, Samuel Badree 2-4) by 72 runs.
