T20 WC: West Indies beat Afghanistan by 104 runs

St. Lucia: The West Indies defeated Afghanistan by 104 runs in the International Cricket Council (ICC) T20 Men’s World Cup 2024.

Afghanistan won the toss and invited the host team West Indies to bat in the 40th match of the T20 World Cup 2024 hosted by the United States and the West Indies under the auspices of the ICC. The two teams played at the Darren Semi Cricket Stadium in Saint Lucia.

West Indies innings

On the invitation of Afghanistan, West Indies started batting but the start was not good. The opener Brendan King was bowled for seven runs on a total score of 23 runs, followed by Nicholas Pooran, who came after him, along with Johnson Charles, made a good attack on the Afghan bowlers.

Nicholas scored 98 runs off 53 balls to stabilise the team's position, while Johnson Charles played an innings of 43 runs. Shai Hope and Roman Powell, who came in fourth and fifth place, also played their role in advancing the overall score of the match.

Roman Powell and Shai Hope were dismissed for 26 and 25 runs respectively, so the host West Indies scored 218 runs in the allotted overs. Afghanistan's Gulbuddin Naib dismissed two players while Azmatullah Umarzai and Naveen-ul-Haq got one wicket each.

Afghanistan's innings

In response to the big target, Afghanistan's batting was disappointing. The opener Rahmanullah Garbaz returned to the pavilion after taking a catch on the third ball of the over. Gulbaddin Naib, who came to support Ibrahim Zadran, also proved to be a 10-ball guest and got out LBW.

The opener Ibrahim and fourth-ranked batsman Azmatullah put up a strong resistance against the host team but to no avail, both of them scored 38 and 23 respectively. Rashid Khan scored 18, Karim Jannat scored 14, Naveen-ul-Haq scored four, Noor Ahmed two, and Muhammad Nabi one run.

On behalf of West Indies, Obaid Makkay bowled brilliantly and dismissed three players by giving 14 runs in three overs. Aqeel Hussain and Gadkesh Moti took two wickets each. Andre Russell and Al-Zari Joseph each led the way to the pavilion.

 West Indian Squad

West Indies were captained by Roman Powell while other players included Brendan King, Johnson Charles, Nicholas Pooran, Shai Hope, Andre Russell, Sharfin Rutherford, Aqeel Hussain, Al-Zari Joseph, Gadkesh Moti and Obaid Makkay.

Afghan squad

The Afghanistan team was led by Rashid Khan, Rahmanullah Garbaz, Ibrahim Zadran, Gulbaddin Naib, Azmatullah Umarzai, Najeebullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi, Karim Jannat, Noor Ahmed, Naveen-ul-Haq and Fazal Haq Farooqui were part of the squad.