Afghanistan v Bangladesh World T20 – 5 Talking Points

Afghanistan will be celebrating finally after they earned an consolidatary win over the strong West Indies side at the VCA Stadium, Nagpur. The team had done well in the tournament but somehow were unable to register a win. they came very close all the time but lost eventually. But, today was a different day for the Afghans, a jubilant one. Defending 124 runs, the bowlers did a fanstastic job to restrict the Windies team to 117/8 after 20 overs and win the match by 6 runs. Gulbadin Naib was the star performaer of the match. He made 48* `and topped it with amazing catch later on. Spinners Rashid Khan and Mohammad Nabi were the top performers with the ball.

1. Wonderful Najibullah Zadran:

Afghanistan batsmen failed to handle the West Indies bowlers. Leg spinner Samuel Badree and his flat leg breaks proved too much for the Afghan top order to face. The first to depart was Usman Ghani followed by Mohammad Shahzad, skipper Asghar Stanikzai and Samiullah Shenwari. The rising Asian team were struggling at 52/4 during the half-way stage of the game.  But, Najibullah Zadran arrival in the middle saw the team putting in some resistance. The 23-year-old left-hander batted sensibly and did not lose his wicket till the end to help his team reach a small yet still defendable total of 123/7 in 20 overs. Zadran ended with a brilliant 48 from 40 balls laced with a six and 4 boundaries.

2. West Indies bowlers trip Afghans:

The formidable West Indies side chose to bowl first after winning the toss. The decision turned into a win-win situation after leg spinner Samuel Badree (3/14) made early inroads in the Afghans side and dismantled the dangerous top order. Badree took the important wickets of Mohammad Shahzad, Usman Ghani and Asghar Stanikzai. Andre Russell (2/23), Darren Sammy (1/17) and Sulieman Benn (1/18) also bowled extremely well. Except for Najibullah Zadran, none of the Afghan batsmen could thrive today.

3. No Chris Gayle:

West Indies decided to rest their best batsman today – Chris Gayle. The giant left-hander was replaced by Evin Lewis, who earned a place in the World T20 team after scoring heaps of runs in the Caribbean Premier League and Bangladesh Premier League. But, Trinidad left-hander was a dud as he could not capitalise on the opportunity and got out for a duck, that too after consuming 78 deliveries. West Indies with Chris Gayle would have easily won the match on 9 out of 10 occasions against Afghanistan.

4. Afghan bowlers fight out:

Afghanistan did not have much runs to defend and only a solid bowling performance would have keep them in the contest. And, as expected, the bowler did not disappoint at all and did a great job. The bowler did not allow the strong Windies batting order to get away with the game easily. The spinner were the most impactful. Mohammad Nabi (2/26), Rashid Khan (2/26) and Amir Hamza (1/9) bowled exceptionally and collectively were the chief destructors for the Calypso Kings. Hamid Hasan (1/19) and Gulbadin Naib (1/14) also did their part in making the West Indians nervous in the middle.

5. West Indies huff and puff to victory:

Chasing 134 runs to win should not have been very tough for a team full of hard hitters. But, today was an off day for the West Indian batsmen. Chris Gayle’s absence in the batting line-up was a huge difference. The team began badly with Gayle’s replacement Evin Lewis getting out for a duck. Soon, Johnston Charles depart and Andre Fletcher retired due to hamstring problems. Denesh Ramdin and Dwayne Bravo kep their team in contention but soon lost their wickets in the gap of three overs. Hopes rested on Andre Russell and skipper Darren Sammy but both could not finish the job. The last over saw Carlos Braithwaite on strike with Mohammad Nabi at the other end. The team needed the 10 runs from the last over. Nabi began with two dot balls. Braithwaite freed his arms off the third delivery but an amazing Gulbadin Naib took an incredible catch to dash all hopes of the win. Fletcher came out limping with West Indies needing 9 from 2 balls but he could not make any difference. Afghanistan earned an deserving win and signed off from the tournament in style.