Nicholas Pooran smashes record books as West Indies' batsman breaks Chris Gayle's record

West Indies wicketkeeper-batter Nicholas Pooran created history on Tuesday (June 18) in the match against Afghanistan played at Gros Islet, St. Lucia. After being put in to bat first, West Indies got off to a rollicking start with opener Johnson Charles smashing 43 off just 27 balls.

Pooran came in to bat at No. 3 and looked in excellent form. He smashed 36 runs in his first 13 balls with 4 fours and 3 sixes. The left-hander slowed down in the middle overs but regained his touch in the slog overs as he scored 43 runs off his last 13 balls. It was a perfect T20 innings from the destructive batter.

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Nicholas Pooran breaks Chris Gayle's record

Pooran scored 98 off just 53 balls during his stay at the crease and missed a well-deserved century by just 2 runs. He was run out in the last over of the innings. This was his career-best T20I knock as it came on a perfect occasion.

In the process, Pooran hit 6 fours and 8 sixes. As a result, he broke Chris Gayle's record and moved to the fifth spot in the list of most number of sixes hit by a batter in T20Is. While Gayle hit 124 sixes in 79 T20Is, Pooran moved past him with 128 sixes in 92 T20Is.

Indian captain Rohit Sharma leads the list with 194 sixes to his name in 154 matches. He is followed by New Zealand batter Martin Guptill with 173 sixes to his name. England's white-ball captain Jos Buttler and Australia's Glenn Maxwell are third and fourth on the list with 130 and 129 sixes respectively.

Pooran's 98-run knock also helped him to become the first West Indies batter to reach 2000 runs in T20Is. Chris Gayle is second on the list with 1899 runs in 79 T20Is. Marlon Samuels, Kieron Pollard, and Lendl Simmons complete the top five list.

West Indies end group stage on a high

Nicholas Pooran's blistering innings helped West Indies to post 218-5 in 20 overs. In reply, Afghanistan were blown away for just 114 in just 16.2 overs. Obed McCoy picked up three wickets while left-arm spinners Akeal Hosein and Gudakesh Motie picked up two wickets apiece.

With this win, West Indies finished on top of Group C and remained unbeaten throughout the group stage. They will be confident going into the Super Eight stage where they will face England, South Africa, and the USA. Meanwhile, Afghanistan had also secured their qualification in the Super Eight. They will face India, Australia, and Bangladesh for a place in the semi-final.

West Indies are the two-time champions of the T20 World Cup. They won the title in 2012 and 2016. But since then, they haven't been at their best and even failed to go past the first round in the last edition in 2022. After a slow start this year, they seem to gain momentum and will be a difficult team to stop in home conditions.