WI vs AFG 2024 T20 WC Match Report: The West Indies defeated Afghanistan by 104 runs in Match 40 of the 2024 T20 World Cup to finish the group stage of the tournament in dominant fashion.
The Windies took on Afghanistan in a Group C contest in the final group-stage game at the Daren Sammy Cricket Ground in Gros Islet, St. Lucia. It was Afghanistan that won the toss and decided to bowl first.
WI vs AFG 2024 T20 WC Match Report
The Afghans soon realised that they had made a mistake of giving the West Indies a chance to bat first, as the co-hosts started smacking the ball around from the first over itself.
As Brandon King lost his wicket in the second over, in walked in to take hold of the game, as from this point on, he and Johnson Charles dominated any bowler that bowled to them.
So even though regular wickets kept falling on one end, like how Charles was dismissed by Naveen Ul Haq in the eighth over after scoring 43-off-27, the flow of runs never stopped.
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The West Indies crossed the 100-run mark in the eighth over, showing they are still one of the most explosive teams in the world.
After Shai Hope was out after scoring 26-off-17, captain Rovman Powell took to the crease and played the role of supporting Pooran, who was heading at sonic speed towards a 100.
The West Indies crossed the 200-run mark in the 19th over, soon after Powell was dismissed. Having scored the second 200+ score in the competition, fans were now thrilled to watch Nicholas Pooran score the first century of the tournament and of his T20I career.
But that was not to be, as on the fourth ball of the final over, playing on 97, Pooran attempted a 2, but a throw from the deep by Azmatullah Omarzai hit the wickets flush, as Pooran was run out for 98. The West Indies inning ended at 218/5.
The Afghanistan inning isn’t that entertaining. Rahmanullah Gurbaz was dismissed in the first over for a duck, and the batting side went into a shell, not being able to keep up with the run rate.
While Ibrahim Zadran scored runs on one corner, Gulbadin Naib just changed strikes for six overs before being dismissed in the seventh for 7 runs in 10 balls. Zadran departed soon after, stranding Afghanistan at 59/3 in 7.4 overs in a 219-run chase.
This is where the dam broke for the Afghans as the batting order started to collapse. Just a couple of balls later, Najibullah Zadran was out for a duck. Mohammad Nabi was bowled by Obed McCoy in the 10th over, Azmatullah Omarzai was dismissed in the 13th, and so was Karim Janat.
Afghanistan lost its entire middle order in a matter of minutes. Now at 89/7, Afghanistan could do nothing but try to get as close to the target as possible and play out the entire inning.
Wickets didn’t stop falling, as captain Rashid Khan was the last to be dismissed in the 17th over, with Afghanistan getting all out for 114 and losing the game by 104 runs.
For his brilliant inning of 98-off-53, Nicholas Pooran was named the Player of the Match.
This match was not to determine much in this tournament as both teams had already made it to the Super 8 with their groups at that stage already set. While the West Indies will face England in their first Super 8 game on the morning of June 20, Afghanistan will face India later that day.
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