30 sixes, 24 fours, 411 runs—New Zealand-West Indies second T20I in Auckland was full of fours and sixes. The end of the second T20I between New Zealand and West Indies was also dramatic. Batting at a target of 208 runs, West Indies almost won. But West Indies lost by 3 runs after failing to match the sixes on the last ball.

Score 81/2 in 12 overs. New Zealand’s score in the second T20I against West Indies at Eden Park in Auckland was like this. From there, the Kiwis’ run was 207 for 5 at the end of 20 overs today. 126 runs in the last 8 overs!

The West Indies innings in the chase was the same. After reaching 100 in the 14th over, the Caribbeans suddenly remembered that they had to win the match. Then the storm at Eden Park again hit fours and sixes and the team almost won. If Matthew Ford had hit a six on the last ball, the West Indies would have won an incredible victory. 6 feet 8 inches tall Kiwi pacer Kyle Jamieson kept his cool and delivered a slower delivery to prevent Ford from hitting a six. Due to poor timing, the ball went up in the sky, although it was not out, only 1 run was scored. Despite scoring 110 runs in the last 7 overs, the West Indies lost by 3 runs. And New Zealand leveled the five-match series 1-1.

When the 14th over of the West Indies began, the team’s score was 94/6. It was natural to think that New Zealand was going to get a big win. Romario Shepherd, Rovman Powell and Matthew Ford, however, thought differently, created a storm and almost gave the team the victory. After the departure of Roston Chase, the Shepherd-Powell partnership for the seventh wicket was 62 runs in 24 balls. After Shepherd’s departure (34 in 16 balls with 4 sixes), Powell added another 47 runs in 18 balls. When 6 runs were needed in 3 balls, Jameson was caught by Mark Chapman at third man. Powell scored 45 runs in 16 balls. Powell hit 6 sixes before leaving. Akil Hossain took 1 run in the next ball. West Indies needed 5 runs in the last ball. Ford, who scored 29 runs in 13 balls, could have taken 1 run in that ball.

Despite not winning, West Indies set a record for the highest runs in the last 5 overs among Test-playing teams in international T20s. The 87-run knock broke England’s record of 86 against the West Indies in 2023.

Earlier, in the 13th over, New Zealand’s storm began with the bat of Mark Chapman. In that 8-ball over by Romario Shepherd, 26 runs were scored, 3 sixes and 1 four, of which 24 were by Chapman. 10, 23, 23, 6, 8, 11 and 19—runs in the last seven overs.
After Chapman’s departure with the first ball of the 17th over, the pace of scoring slowed down a bit for New Zealand. After scoring 78 runs off 28 balls, Chapman was out in the 28th ball. This batsman, who made his international cricket debut for Hong Kong, hit 7 sixes with 4 fours.
Opener Tim Robinson scored the second highest 39 runs off 25 balls in New Zealand’s innings. Apart from this, Daryl Mitchell was unbeaten on 28 off 14 balls and Mitchell Santner was unbeaten on 18 off 8 balls.
Brief Scores

New Zealand: 207/5 in 20 overs (Chapman 78, Robinson 39, Mitchell 28*; Chase 2/33). West Indies: 204/8 in 20 overs (Powell 45, Shepherd 34, Athanase 33, Ford 29; Santner 3/31, Sodhi 3/39). Result: New Zealand won by 3 runs. Series: 5-match series tied 1–1. Man of the Match: Mark Chapman.