West Indies coach Daren Sammy said he believes his team can take down any opponent on their day, and the regional team got a big scalp at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on February 11 when they defeated England by 30 runs in their group C encounter at the International Cricket Council (ICC) T20 World Cup.

Sent in by the English, West Indies made a formidable score of 196 for six – a total Man of the Match Sherfane Rutherford deemed to be roughly ten runs short when he spoke at the post-match ceremony.

It was Rutherford’s career-best of 76 not out off 42 balls which proved to be the backbone of the Windies innings as they recovered after the early departures of opening batsmen Brandon King (one) and skipper Shai Hope (duck).

Drafted into the playing XI for this clash, allrounder Roston Chase played a steady hand of 34 off 29 and put on 47 with Shimron Hetmyer (23 off 12) for the third wicket as West Indies had a mini recovery, before losing a third wicket in the power play.

Batting at number five, Rutherford had a watchful start before going into overdrive in the latter part of the innings as he raced to fifty off 29 and clouted seven sixes and two fours in his innings. The Guyanese left-hander dominated a 51-run partnership for the fifth wicket with former captain Rovman Powell (14), before sharing a 61-run stand at the back end with the lanky Jason Holder, who clobbered 33 off 17 balls with four sixes.

Facing an England team which had won seven of the last eight completed matches between the two, the West Indies bowlers were under the pump early on as their nemesis Phil Salt blazed to 30 off 14 inside the power play and threatened to take the game away. Salt was dismissed in the fourth over by Romario Shepherd, who amazingly bowled just one over on the back of his five-wicket haul in the opener against Scotland.

The English got to 67 for one after the power play and looked to be in the ascendancy. However, the spin pair of Chase (two for 29) and Gudakesh Motie (three for 33) had other ideas as they clawed the Men in Maroon back into the game with a mix of guile and deception in the middle overs. Halfway through the chase, England progressed to 93 for four and required 104 off the last ten overs.

Top scorer Sam Curran (43 not out off 30) and captain Harry Brook (17) stitched together 41 for the fifth wicket, before the latter was drawn into a false shot by Motie, who took a smart return catch. At that stage, England still needed 66 off the last 37 balls with five wickets intact.

Known for their powerful and long batting lineup, the English had no answer for the Windies on this occasion as the fielding team struck with regularity at the death. Left-arm spinner Akeal Hosein (one for 32) got a wicket in the 16th over, while the pair of Holder and Shamar Joseph (one for 30) stuck to a yorker-length ploy in the back end to help bowl out England for 166.

With Curran desperately trying to keep his team in the hunt, he watched on from the non-striker's end as Chase took a wonderful catch at backward square leg to see the back of last man Adil Rashid in the 19th over.

With two wins from two matches, the Windies will aim to seal a Super Eight spot when they take on Nepal on February 15. Intriguingly, Nepal got a 2-1 T20 series win over an understrength West Indies team in September 2025.

Summarised Scores:

WEST INDIES – 196/6 from 20 overs (Sherfane Rutherford 76 not out, Roston Chase 34, Jason Holder 33; Adil Rashid 2/16, Jamie Overton 2/33) vs ENGLAND – 166 from 19 overs (Sam Curran 43 not out, Jacob Bethell 33, Phil Salt 30; Gudakesh Motie 3/33, R Chase 2/29). West Indies won by 30 runs.