West Indies defeated Afghanistan by 23 runs at the Headingley Cricket Ground in Leeds to end their World Cup campaign with a consolatory win. Shai Hope was declared Man of the Match for his 77-run knock.
On Thursday, West Indies skipper Jason Holder won the toss and chose to bat first.
The Windies started their innings with Evin Lewis and Chris Gayle. Gayle, who has not had a good World Cup so far, yet again failed to impress in his last innings of the 2019 World Cup as he fell to Dawlat Zadran on an individual score of 7.
After Gayle’s departure, Lewis was accompanied by Shai Hope and the duo stitched an 88-run partnership for the second wicket. Lewis fell to Rashid Khan after a well-made 58 as he tried to boost the run rate.
Riding on 58 from Nicholas Pooran and 45 from Holder towards the end, the Windies scored 311 runs in 50 overs.
For Afghanistan, Dawlat Zadran was the star bowler, scalping 2 for 73 in 9 overs.
Chasing a big target, Afghanistan lost their captain Gulbadin Naib (5) to Kemar Roach when the team’s score was only 5. But Rahmat Shah (62) and Ikram Ali Khil (86) added 133 runs for the second wicket and brought the Afghans back in the game before the former fell to Carlos Brathwaite.
Ikram, too, was sent to pavilion by Gayle and soon after this Afghanistan suffered a severe collapse as none of the batsmen, apart from Asghar Afghan (40), dug in their heels to steady the Afghan ship. As a result, Afghanistan got all out for 288 runs in their stipulated quota of 50 overs, 23 runs short of Windies’.
Brief scorecard: West Indies 311 for 6 after 50 overs (Shai Hope 77, Evin Lewis 58, Nicholas Pooran 58, Dawlat Zadran 2/73, Rashid Khan 1/52) defeated Afghanistan 288 in 50 overs (Ikram Ali Khil 86, Rahmat Shah 62, Carlos Brathwaite 4/63, Kemar Roach 3/37) by 23 runs.