West Indies allrounder Roston Chase played a stunning knock and guided his side to a comfortable win over PNG. He also revealed that he had no doubts that West Indies would win against Papua New Guinea in their T20 World Cup opener in Guyana as well. However, WI found themselves struggling in the run chase after PNG finished with a below-par 136/8. From 61/1 at one stage, they were reduced to 97/5 and at one point, they still needed 40 from the final 4 overs. Then Chase managed to seal the deal alongside Andre Russell.
“For me it was just to take a bit of time to get in because watching on all the batters that today took a while to before they really got the pace of the wicket and in terms of playing the strokes,” Chase said. “So, it was just that for me and then backing myself in the end to really take it deep. And then, as you said, put my foot on the gas. Obviously, we had the likes of (Romario) Shepherd and (Andre) Russell to come, so I never had any doubt that we would be able to get away the ball in the end. So that was just my mindset.”
However, Roston Chase also shared that he entered the World Cup full of confidence as he batted well in the recently concluded series against South Africa and in the West Indies A vs Nepal series as well.
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“I am full of confidence even before this knock,” he added. “I mean, I had a good series against South Africa then I was on the A-team tour in Nepal and had a good series there and then I mean I’ve been putting in a lot of work back home and obviously in the camp before the South Africa series so it’s just for me to just go there express myself when I get the chance and put everything that I put into practice into the game and entertain.”
“A lot of hard work, sweat, tears, just putting in the hard work. And obviously, believing. I think that’s the main reason. I mean, you can do all the hard work and have everyone rooting for you, but if you don’t have that self-belief, you’re not going to achieve. So, I just think that it’s for me to back any hard work that I did and also believing in my ability that when I get out there that I was showing my (skill),” he concluded.
Meanwhile, PNG captain Assadollah Vala stated that he was happy with the fight put up by the team but he believed that some more runs on the board could have made life difficult for the West Indies as well.
“I think we didn’t play the crucial moments the way we wanted,” he said after the game. “They had batsmen towards the end, which we didn’t. I think we missed out on a few runs towards the end as well. But I think credit to them. They got a lot of experience. So, I think we played really well. We executed our skills really well. Just couldn’t execute towards the end when we were put under pressure but really happy with the overall performance of the boys. Something we can learn from and move forward. I think we came up against a really good side and I’m happy that we put in a really good show today.”
“I think Sese Bau batted really well,” he noted. “The number four batsman he scored a 50 today. Yeah, and John Kariko, the left-arm spinner bowled really well. I think, Alei up front with the new ball. There was a lot of stuff that we did really well. I think a lot of positives to take out from the game today. I think the overall performance was really good but just the key moments that we just couldn’t put the nail in the coffin. But I think as I said before the effort was outstanding, we kept fighting against a really good side so happy really happy,” he concluded.
