The West Indies have pulled off an impressive T20 series win (3-2) over England and the biggest talking point has been that of the rise of explosive all-rounder Rovman Powell.
Powell hit a whirlwind 107 off 53 balls in the third match to propel the Windies to a total of 224. England would end up 20 runs short. He shared a third-wicket stand of 122 from just 67 balls with Nicholas Pooran (70 off 43).
In the process, he became only the third West Indian to score a ton in T20Is, after Chris Gayle and Evin Lewis.
After the century, he credited an improvement against wrist spin for his maiden century.
Century for Rovman Powell 👏
— ICC (@ICC) January 26, 2022
He becomes only the third West Indian to score a T20I hundred after Evin Lewis and Chris Gayle.#WIvENG pic.twitter.com/0nPmX8vZua
“All great players of spin do three things, either they advance down the wicket, they sweep or they use the crease very well. I (decided) within the last few months that I would incorporate two of them into my game, I'd start to sweep and I'd start to advance down the wicket a little bit more. I think that showed that,” he said.
The big Jamaican has been in-and-out of the West Indies limited-overs teams for five years. It was in December that he was recalled to the T20 International side as a replacement for captain Kieron Pollard for the tour of Pakistan.
“For the last six or seven months, I had it tough, not scoring a lot of runs. It's good for me to get an opportunity (on Wednesday) and I'd take it.”
Only six batters in the history of T20Is have hit more sixes in an innings than Powell. The record of 16 sixes is held by Afghanistan's Hazratullah Zazai, who did it against Ireland.
The 28-year-old Powell made his national team ODI debut in the West Indies tour of Sri Lanka in 2015. He would make his T20I debut the next year against Pakistan.
He is a handy medium pace bowler and briefly captained the ODI side against Bangladesh in 2018.
His maiden ODI century came against Ireland in 2018, which helped the side clinch a position in the World Cup the following year. But Powell was left out of the squad for the World Cup in England.
A regular figure in Jamaica’s T20 teams, Powell was purchased by Kolkata Knight Riders in 2017, but did not get to play a single match. His recent exploits in the England series could make him a strong candidate in the upcoming IPL auction.
