WATCH: 6, 6, 6, 6… Romario Shepherd smashes EXPLOSIVE fifty on comeback from injury, rescues West Indies in Super 8 match vs South Africa
Comeback hero Romario Shepherd slams whirlwind fifty to lift West Indies to 176 after being in dire situation against South Africa in Super 8 match of T20 World Cup 2026 in Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Thursday.
West Indies all-rounder Romario Shepherd en route to scoring fifty vs South Africa in Super 8 match of T20 World Cup 2026 at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. (Photo: IANS)
South Africa vs West Indies T20 World Cup 2026: West Indies appeared gone for all money when table-toppers South Africa had reduced them to 83 for 7 in the 11th over of their Super 8 match of the T20 World Cup 2026 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Thursday. But Windies all-rounder Romario Shepherd and Jason Holder were in no mood to surrender in a hurry. Shepherd, who was returning from minor injury, was in sensational form with the bat smashing his second career T20I fifty.
The eighth-wicket pair of the West Indies put on 89 runs against South Africa to lift their team to 176 for 8 in 20 overs after batting first. It was the 2nd best partnership for the 8th wicket ever behind 132 not out Saber Zakhil and Saqlain Ali of Belgium against Austria in 2021. For Test playing nations, Shepherd improved on his own 78-run stand with Shamar Springer against New Zealand in Nelson last year.
Shepherd, who was retained for Rs 1.5 crore by Virat Kohli's Royal Challengers Bengaluru ahead of IPL 2026 season, remained unbeaten on 52 off 37 balls completing his fifty off the final ball of the innings with 4 massive sixes and 3 fours. While Holder was dismissed for an equally brilliant 49 off 31 balls with 3 sixes and 4 fours.
WATCH Romario Shepherd smash an explosive fifty against South Africa HERE
Shepherd became only the 4th batter ever to register a 50-plus score from No.9 or lower in men's T20I cricket and only the second from a Test-playing nation after Tanzim Hasan Sakib of Bangladesh, who scored 50 vs Pakistan in Lahore last year. It was a brilliant comeback from injury for the 31-year-old all-rounder, who had claimed a hat-trick in first match of West Indies in the T20 World Cup 2026 against Scotland earlier this month.
Coming in at a difficult situation, Shepherd took his time to get his eye in, before starting to open his shoulders against Lungi Ngidi first smashing him for a huge six over long-off. Ngidi hadn't conceded a single boundary in his four-over spell against Team India in South Africa's previous Super 8 match on Sunday.
In the next two overs, Shepherd smashed Keshav Maharaj and Corbin Bosch for massive sixes. Holder finally broke the shackles in Marco Jansen's final over as he conceded 23 runs in the over with 2 sixes and 2 fours.
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