WI vs AUS | Dre Russ goodbye turns into Windies nightmare as Inglis takes Australia 2-0 up

Gantavya Adukia

ByGantavya Adukia,SportsCafe Editor

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Andre Russell played his final T20I on Wednesday as Australia defeated the West Indies by eight wickets in Kingston

Andre Russell walked out to a guard of honour from both teams in his farewell T20I, at Sabina Park in Kingston on Wednesday, and blitzed 36 runs to help take the Windies to 172/8. However, it was his dropped catch of Josh Inglis that proved decisive as a rapid 78 sealed the chase with 28 balls left.

Brandon King got West Indies off to the perfect start with a boundary off the very first ball by Matt Kuhnemann before being caged in by an exhibtion of disciplined new-ball bowling, while Shai Hope largely played spectator at the other end. King finally broke the shackles in the fifth over to punish Kuhnemann again, this time for 20 runs in the over, to have the Windies humming at 49/0 at the end of the powerplay. The opener soon after brought up a 33-ball half-century, only to hole out the very same over off Adam Zampa and Hope replicated the stunt the very next ball against Glenn Maxwell to suddenly leave the hosts reeling at 72/2 at the halfway stage. Both Shimron Hetmyer and Roston Chase tried to keep the tempo going thereafter with juicy maximums and then lobbed catches to the deep the very next ball, before Zampa scalped his third in the 14th over with Sherfane Rutherford's silver duck. With his team in danger of collapsing into oblivion, Andre Russell wakled out with his usual swagger and took no time in declaring his intentions with a maximum off the second ball. In a flash, his score had grown to 36 in 15 balls on the back of four maximums and two boundaries until Nathan Ellis ended his final ever T20I knock in the 17th over, prompting the entire Ausse unit to come up and congratulate the Windies legend. The wickets simply kempt tumbling either end of the narrative-rich blirzkrieg, despite three dropped catches from the visitors. Were it not for Gudakesh Motie's nine-ball unbeaten hurrah for 18 in the final two overs, the hosts would have ended well short of their eventual 172/8.

To begin the chase, Australia made the left-field choice of sending Maxwell out to open with skipper Mitch Marsh. Albeit the all-rounder responded with a maximum and four in the first over, his stay was cut short for 12 runs with a nick behind off Jason Holder. Marsh and Josh Inglis added 29 runs for the second wicket in a rather sedate powerplay as boundaries and dot balls ruled the roost, before Alzarri Joseph scalped the rival skipper to have scorecard read 45/2. Unfortunately for the Maroon Brigade, that was their last success in the encounter as Josh Inglis tore into their bowling attack. The keeper-batter began his onslaught with two fours and a maximum off Alzarri before reaching a crescendo in the 12th over. With Dre Russ handed the ball for the first time on the night, Inglis welcome the retiring legend with a 98-metre six to bring up a 22-ball half-century, before adding two consecutive boundaries to boot. Cameron Green, meanwhile, had been content playing second fiddle at the other end but decided the time had come to up his game. A six and a four followed off Motie, followed by the duo taking apart Holder and Alzarri for 31 runs in two overs to help Green bring up a 28-ball fifty. A sliced shot over cover from the youngster in the 16th over proved to be the winning runs as the visitors sealed a comprehensive eight-wicket win with 28 balls to spare, thus taking a 2-0 lead in the five-match series.

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