Nicholas Pooran registered his highest T20I score to power co-hosts West Indies to a 104-run win over Afghanistan in their final Group C encounter of the T20 World Cup 2024 at the Daren Sammy National Cricket Stadium in Gros Islet on Tuesday.

Our Nicky P top-scored in the match, hitting 98 off just 53 balls. His knock, which included eight sixes and six boundaries, helped the home team to 218/5 in their 20 overs. In response, Afghanistan were all-out for 114 as seamer Obed McCoy picked up 3/14.

During the knock, our star batter went past Chris Gayle’s record for most sixes by a West Indies player in T20Is. The wicketkeeper-batter has 128 sixes in T20Is against Gayle’s 124 hits over the fence.

Pooran is also fourth in the overall list of active players with the most sixes, which is led by India’s Rohit Sharma.

Batting first, Nicky P hit three sixes and two fours in the fourth over by Azmatullah Omarzai, which fetched 36 runs as the Windies breezed past the 50-run mark. This was the joint-most expensive over in the history of T20I cricket.

Pooran added 80 runs off just 38 balls for the second wicket with Johnson Charles before the latter was dismissed for 43, with the score reading 102. The southpaw continued unperturbed, bringing up his half-century, his first in T20 World Cups, in only 31 balls.

Nicky P, who also went past Chris Gayle for most runs in T20Is by a West Indies batter in the last game against New Zealand, effortlessly switched gears towards the end. He carted three huge sixes to amass 24 runs off Rashid Khan’s 18th over.

Nicky P hit consecutive sixes in the last over put him in touching distance from his first T20I hundred. But unfortunately, his blitzkrieg ended agonisingly close to a well-deserved century, as he was run out for 98, the highest individual score in the T20 World Cup 2024 to date.

West Indies start their Super Eight campaign against defending champions England at the same venue on Thursday. The home side are also scheduled to meet co-host USA and South Africa on June 22 and June 24 respectively, in their remaining Super Eight matches.