After the aggressive innings of Nicholas Pooran (67 off 50 balls), the bowlers’ strong performance helped the West Indies beat Afghanistan by 47 runs on Saturday to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the 3-match series.
In the match played at the Bharat Ratna Atal Bihari Vajpai Ekana Stadium in Lucknow, the West Indies scored 247 runs in the prescribed 50 overs, in response to which the entire team of Afghanistan were reduced to 200 runs in the 46th over.
Afghanistan did not have a good start and their first wicket fell on one run. After that Rahmat Shah and Hazrat Ullah Jazai (23) added 53 runs for the second wicket while handling the innings. After Rahmat Shah (33) was run out, Afghanistan’s innings faltered and his 5 wickets fell by 109 runs.
Najibullah Jadaran and Mohammad Nabi (32) then took over the innings. Jadran scored 56 runs in 66 balls but after his dismissal on the team score of 177, Afghanistan were eliminated from the match and were all out for 200 runs. She also lost the series 0–2 on her home ground.
Sheldon Cottrell, Roston Chase and Hayden Walsh took 3-3 wickets for the West Indies. Earlier, Afghanistan won the toss and decided to bowl first. West Indies opening pair Shai Hope and Evin Lewis gave the team a solid start. Both added 98 runs in 24.4 overs.
Afghan captain Rashid Khan broke the pair by lbw to Hope (43). In the very next over, the West Indies suffered another setback when off-spinner Javed Ahmadi bowled fiercely batting Lewis (54).
After the opening pair departed, the previous match’s hero Roston Chase and Shimron Hetmyer led the innings. However, both of them had just added 31 runs that spinner Mujib Urrahman gave a strong blow to the Windies by giving a clean bold to Chase (09). Chase tried to pull Mujib’s short ball but it was too low to go to the wicket.
Afghanistan bowlers came to dominate, falling 3 wickets one after the other. The West Indies soon lost their fourth wicket in the form of Hetmyer (34) on a team score of 156 runs. Hetmyer played a carefree shot off off-spinner Mohammad Nabi for a second consecutive six, and the ball reached the hands of Javed Ahmadi standing at long on.
Caribbean captain Keron Pollard (03), who came to bat after that, also did not show any brilliance. He bounced off the left-arm spinner Sharafuddin’s bouncing ball and held the return catch. Only 22 runs were added to the score and Jason Holder (09) was run out by wicketkeeper Ikram Alikhil at the precise throw of Mujib in an attempt to steal a run.
After losing 6 wickets for just 182 runs, the hard-hitting Windies team was supported by a 50-run partnership by Puran and Romario Shepherd. During this, Puran batted very aggressively. He scored 67 runs in 50 balls with 7 fours and 3 sixes and was dismissed by fast bowler Naveen Ul Haq. In the same over, Haq took his 3 wickets as Hayden Walsh (04). West Indies scored 247 runs for 9 wickets in the prescribed 50 overs. Haq took 3 wickets while Mujib Urrahman, Rashid Khan, Sharafuddin, Nabi and Ahmadi got one wicket each.