‘Tough times for West Indies’: Twitter stunned at two-time champions’ elimination from T20 World Cup – Firstcricket News, Firstpost

The ICC T20 World Cup has experienced its first major blow as two-time champions West Indies have been eliminated from the first round. In the deciding game of Group B, West Indies suffered a massive 9-wicket defeat against Ireland on Friday at the Blundstone Arena.

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The batting department of the Ireland side showed sheer dominance as they completed the 147-run chase losing just one wicket. Senior opener Paul Stirling registered his 20th half-century (66 runs off 48 deliveries) and helped the side to enter the main round. With the commendable victory, the Irish brigade not only made their way to the Super 12 round but also announced themselves as a strong competitor in the tournament.

Notably, West Indies are the first champion team of the tournament who failed to qualify for the main round. Their exit from the world cup has massively stunned cricket enthusiasts across the globe.

West Indies: Fall from grace as two-time T20 World Cup champions fail to make main round

While some fans blamed the poor performance of the bowling department in the crucial fixture, others highlighted the internal scenario of the cricket board in the country. The Ireland unit also garnered much praise for displaying tremendous team effort and clinching their spot in the Super 12.

A user revealed his thoughts by saying, “You’d never know that the West Indies are ranked 7th in the world from the way they’ve played this group stage. Boatraced by both Scotland and Ireland. If Zimbabwe were slightly more composed, they probably would’ve beaten them too.”

Another user noted, “This is the first time a champion team didn’t qualify for Super 12. Tough times for West Indies cricket.”

A user wrote, “The biggest boys in the history of T20I cricket couldn’t qualify for Super 12s, West Indies are out of the world cup. The world is going to miss a lot this cup.”

Saj Sadiq reminded, “Ireland who failed to get past the first round in their last five T20 World Cups have made it to the Super 12s & have also knocked the two-time champions West Indies out of the tournament.”

Here are some other reactions:

Batting first, West Indies managed to post 146 runs on the board. Except for Brandon King’s unbeaten 62, there was no mention-worthy contribution on the score sheet. Ireland spinner Gareth Delany shone on the occasion, fetching 3 important scalps in his 4 overs. During the chase, along with Stirling, wicketkeeper-batter Lorcan Tucker also made a remarkable contribution and scored 45 runs off 35 balls.

Though Ireland have already qualified for the Super-12 participants, their group will be decided after the final tie of the qualifier round between Scotland and Zimbabwe. The side that finishes on the top of the table will be sent to Group B where they will have teams like India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Netherlands and South Africa. The team ranked second will go to Group A where it will battle Australia, England, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and New Zealand.

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