The wicket-keeper's dominating knock propelled West Indies in their 104-run thrashing of Afghanistan
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St Lucia: West Indies played their final group stage match against Afghanistan at the Darren Sammy Cricket Ground in St Lucia. With both the teams already qualified for Super 8, this match was all about ending the group stages on a positive note. Afghanistan won the toss and decided to bowl first. The West Indian batsmen who were not in a great form had a real test on their hands as they were about to go against arguably the best bowling attack in the tournament which included the likes of Fazalhaq Farooqi (highest wicket-taker in the tournament so far), Rashid Khan etc.
West Indian opener, Brandon King lost his wicket early in the second over to Azmatullah Omarzai. Nicholas Pooran came up next and its safe to say that he absolutely destroyed Afghanistan’s bowling attack.
In the fourth over of the match, Pooran smashed 36 runs to Omarzai which included three sixes and three boundaries each. To make things worse, Omarzai bowled a no-ball to which he conceded another boundary from Pooran and also ended up giving away 5 runs through wides. The West Indian’s innings didn’t end there as he went on to obliterate Afghanistan’s bowling attack in his smashing knock of 98 runs in 53 balls. This was also the highest score by any player in the ongoing edition of the T20 World Cup.
He was dismissed in the final over of the West Indian innings thanks to a run out by Omarzai but by that time, the damage was already done. Cameos from Johnson Charles (42), Shai Hope (25) and Rovman Powell (26) took the Windies to 218/5 in 20 overs. They registered the highest total in the ongoing T20 World Cup with this mammoth score.
Afghanistan had a huge task on their hands but they had the firepower in their batting lineup that could help them in achieving the massive target. However, they suffered from a huge blow when they lost Rahmanullah Gurbaz (highest run-scorer in the tournament so far) for a duck. Ibrahim Zadran alongside Gulbadin Naib formed a decent stand of 45 runs before Naib lost his wicket with Afghanistan at 45/2 after 6.2 overs. From that point on, the West Indian bowlers took wickets on regular intervals to sink Afghanistan’s innings.
Cameos from Omarzai and Rashid Khan were able to take Afghanistan over the 100-run mark but they ended up being bowled out for only 114 runs in 16.2 overs as West Indies ended their group stage campaign with 8 points and a dominant 104-run win. With this win, they also continued their unbeaten run in the tournament. Obed McCoy was the best bowler for the Windies with his figures of 3/14 in 3 overs. Gudakesh Motie and Akeal Hosein also took 2 wickets each in the thrashing of Afghanistan.
This win will work as a huge confidence booster for the West Indies heading to the Super 8. The Windies who are placed in Group 2 will begin their Super 8 campaign against England on Thursday while Afghanistan will play India on the same day in their opening Group 1 clash.
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