3 reasons why Sherfane Rutherford's 68* vs New Zealand is the best knock of T20 World Cup 2024 so far

Sherfane Rutherford's exemplary knock saw the West Indies secure a thrilling victory against New Zealand in Match 26 of T20 World Cup 2024 at Brian Lara Stadium, Tarouba in Trinidad. This victory helped the Caribbean team make it three wins out of three and seal the first Super 8 spot from Group C.

Batting first, West Indies posted a modest total of 149 after a bad start, courtesy of Rutherford (68* off 39). Trent Boult was the pick of the bowlers with three scalps. In response, the Blackcaps struggled throughout the innings and ultimately finished at 136/9 in their stipulated 20 overs. Alzarri Joseph was impressive with four scalps for the hosts.

But what sets apart Rutherford's knock from the rest of the batters, who have done fairly well so far for their respective teams in the T20 World Cup? Let's take a look at the three reasons behind the significance of his innings.

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#1 It helped West Indies reach second round of T20 World Cup for the first time after 2016

The Caribbean team secured a title victory in the T20 World Cup 2016 by beating England in the final in a thrilling fashion, thanks to Carlos Brathwaite's four consecutive sixes off Ben Stokes.

However, West Indies could only win one out of five group games in the 2021 edition, while also losing to Sri Lanka. From their group, England and South Africa qualified for the semi-finals.

In the 2022 edition, they could not seal the Super 12 spot after losing to Ireland and Scotland in the first round. Certainly, Rutherford's innings helped the Caribbean team to finally storm into the second round of the showpiece event.

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#2 Sherfane Rutherford single-handedly stunned NZ bowlers

The 25-year-old arrived at the crease when the Caribbean team were stuttering at 22/4 in the sixth over. However, after taking note of the surface in his first 10 balls, Sherfane Rutherford hit the ball off the screws to get his first maximum.

At 76/7, Rutherford was stranded with no specialist batter along with him. However, the left-hander kept his cool and tried to stay till the end. In the 19th over, Rutherford struck three sixes off Daryl Mitchell and also completed his fifty off 33 balls.

The ferocious batter took out 18 runs off the final over bowled by Mitchell Santner and helped West Indies recover from a bad start to post a winning total. His knock comprised of two fours and eight sixes.

Although Rutherford was a part of Kolkata Knight Riders setup in IPL 2024, he didn't feature in any of the games. According to him, he was still training hard and preparing for the showpiece event.

Here's what Rutherford said in the post-match conference after his impressive knock:

“I was just telling myself to take it deep, me and (Daren) Sammy (West Indies white-ball head coach) we had a talk and he said, ‘Try and take it deep. Keep rotating it.’ I started feeling a momentum (shift), and I thought we could always make up in the end.”

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#3 Put an end to NZ's success in ICC events

New Zealand were 32/1 at the end of five overs. However, things took a turn at this point, with the quick wickets of Finn Allen and Kane Williamson. Thereafter, none of the other batters except Glenn Phillips (40) were effective enough as the Kiwis fell short by 13 runs.

The loss ended New Zealand's imperious run in the ICC events. They finished as the runner-up in the 2021 edition and reached the semi-finals in the 2022 edition of the T20 World Cup. They reached the knockout stages of the 2023 ODI World Cup as well.

Here's what skipper Williamson said in the post-match conference:

"I think if we look at the two matches to start off, no doubt they've been disappointing. You come to a world event; you want to start well. And to be honest, we needed to have been better in these conditions specifically."