Picture Credit: Twitter
Cricket is a game of ups and downs. Not just cricket, every game teaches a lesson. Wins and losses are parts and parcel of the game. But sometimes, players feel like not leaving the field and changing the results. The same happened with West Indies' Akeal Hosein in the second T20I against England. The young player did all he could but failed to win the game for his team as West Indies lost it by 1 run.
After being put in to bat first, Eoin Morgan's England put 171/8 on the board. Jason Roy remained the highest scorer for England with 45 runs off 31 balls. Moeen Ali also chipped in with a crucial 31 off 24 balls. At the fag end, Chris Jordan's 27 off 15 balls helped England put a fighting total. The Three Lions started well with the ball as well as they removed both openers within the first three overs.
Nicholas Pooran and Darren Bravo showed some fight with a 41-run stand but West Indies looked in trouble on most occasions. They kept losing wickets at crucial junctures and in the end, they were left pondering at 98/8 in 15.1 overs with Romario Shepherd and Akeal Hosein at the crease. Both the young players showed immense courage and some mad six-hitting skills to take West Indies to 141/8 in 19 overs.
Full Scorecard of West Indies vs England, Match 2
West Indies fall two runs short of the target
Despite some unbelievable batting from the young duo, it was a daunting task for West Indies to score 30 runs off the last over and win the game. Saqib Mahmood was handed the responsibility to finish things for England. The young pacer also felt the nerves and started the over with a wide. He recovered soon and managed a dot ball. Now West Indies required 29 off 5 deliveries.
Watch Akeal Hosein's last over heroics here:
Akeal Hosein showed mad batting skills to smash Mahmood for two boundaries on the next two deliveries. The equation came down to 21 in 3 deliveries. One again nerves got the best of Mahmood as he conceded an extra bringing the equation down to 20 off 3 balls. Akel Hosein, on the other hand, did not stutter at all and smashed three sixes to finish West Indies innings for 170/8, two runs short of the target. It was a batting performance of ages by Hosein but unfortunately for him and West Indies, they lost. The five-match bilateral series stands levelled at 1-1.