Afghanistan stifle West Indies by 56 runs in warm up match

Afghanistan registered a win in the second set of warm-up games of the day ahead of the Super 12 stage of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 on Wednesday night.

Afghanistan won the toss and opted to bat in their warm-up fixture against the West Indies in Dubai. And the decision paid immediate dividends as the opening batters brought up the 50 partnership inside five overs, with a true display of hitting inside the powerplay.

Oshane Thomas, Obed McCoy and Roston Chase were taken to the cleaners by Afghanistan’s opening pair, with only left-arm spinner Akeal Hosein providing any semblance of control early on.

Hazratullah Zazai and Mohammad Shahzad both remained at the crease after six overs with the score 62/0.

The openers went on to register high-tempo half-centuries, the former falling to Hayden Walsh for 56(35) and the latter to Ravi Rampaul for 54(35).

A score in excess of 200 had looked on, but the Afghanistan run rate began to drop following the loss of the two in-form openers. And two excellent death overs from Obed McCoy and Andre Russell, which collectively picked up three wickets for just ten runs, restricted Afghanistan to a 189/5 – an impressive tally but one that could have been even higher after their lightning start.

Afghanistan’s amazing day continued with the ball as Mohammad Nabi bowled through his full allocation of overs straight up to register extraordinary figures of four overs, two maidens, three wickets for two runs.

Nabi and his fellow bowlers starved West Indies of runs, with the score just 50/3 after ten overs, with still 140 runs required.

And Roston Chase, in particular, found the going tough, with the West Indies number three managing just 18 runs off his first 29 balls

Chase did eventually reach his half-century, but the win never looked on and West Indies limped home still 56 runs short.