Adil Rashid picked up four wickets for only two runs as England bowled West Indies out for 55 - the lowest total by an ICC full-member nation in a T20 World Cup - in their T20 World Cup 2021 Super 12 Group 1 opener in Dubai in Saturday. The previous lowest total by a full-member nation belonged to New Zealand, when they were bowled out for 60 by Sri Lanka in the 2014 World Cup in Bangladesh.
Eoin Morgan's decision to bowl first after winning the toss turned out to be masterstroke as England bowled West Indies out in just 14.4 overs. This is also the third lowest score overall in a T20 World Cup.
The overall lowest total in the T20 World Cup still stands with Netherlands, who were bowled out for 39 in the 2014 World Cup against Sri Lanka.
England vs West Indies live score, T20 World Cup
It all started when Chris Woakes picked up the wicket of Evin Lewis in the second over the match. The real destruction, however, came from the England spinners - Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid.
Knowing fully that the West Indies top-order is dominated by left-handers, Morgan kept off-spinner Moeen Ali on in the powerplay. The move did wonders as Ali finished with figures of 2 for 17, picking up the important wickets of Lendl Simmons and Shimron Hetmyer.
{{/usCountry}}Knowing fully that the West Indies top-order is dominated by left-handers, Morgan kept off-spinner Moeen Ali on in the powerplay. The move did wonders as Ali finished with figures of 2 for 17, picking up the important wickets of Lendl Simmons and Shimron Hetmyer.
{{/usCountry}}Making a comeback into the side, left-arm seamer Tymal Mills gave West Indies a body blow by dismissing Chris Gayle for 13 and Nicholas Pooran.
Leg-spinner Adil Rashid then ran through the famed West Indies lower-middle order. He cleaned up Andre Russell and then foxed captain Pollard. Rashid ended up his best-ever figures in T20Is (4/2).
Reacting to the reckless batting performance by the defending champions, in which one of their batters crossed the double figure mark, the legendary Brian Lara said he doesn't have words to describe the batting approach.
“It was disappointing, it was reckless, I don't have words to describe this. As a West Indian, I'm very disappointed,” said Lara.