ICC World Cup Qualifiers 2018, Final: Afghanistan vs Windies – Statistical Highlights

Afghanistan emerged as the champions of the ICC World Cup Qualifiers after thrashing Windies in the finals by seven wickets. The Afghans looked out going out of the tournament in the league round itself but the results going favour and a winning streak saw them making it to the 2019 World Cup along the Caribbean team. The Afghanistan spinners shared eight wickets as they dismantled the Windies to just 205. Mohammad Shahzad (84) and Rahmat Shah (51) made the chase easy for the Afghans before Mohammad Nabi finished the game with three consecutive sixes.

All the stats and numbers that were recorded during the Final of the World Cup Qualifiers:

3 – Number of 4-wicket hauls for Mujeeb ur Rahman (Mujeeb Zadran) in ODI cricket while opening the bowling. He is the first spinner to take three 4-fers while opening the bowling in this format. Shakib Al Hasan and Sulieman Benn have two 4-wicket hauls apiece while opening.

3 – Number of 4-wicket hauls for Mujeeb in his 15-match ODI career. The Afghanistan right-arm spinner played his last game before turning 17. Bangladesh’s Talha Jubair (1) is the only other player to take a 4-wicket haul in the ODI format.

4 – Number of times Afghanistan defeated Windies in International cricket. The Afghans won the only T20I they faced Windies in the 2016 WT20 and also won three of the five ODIs including two in this tournament.

4 – Afghanistan registered their 4th consecutive ODI win in this tournament. This is their joint-longest winning streak in ODI cricket. They won four consecutive ODI games against Kenya (2) and Scotland (2) in 2013 and four in a row against Zimbabwe in 2015.

16y 352d – Mujeeb became the 2nd player after Shahid Afridi to feature in a tournament final in International cricket before turning 17. Afridi featured in four ODI tournament finals for Pakistan before turning 17 and was part of the winning team on three occasions.

19y 186d – Rashid Khan became the youngest player to complete 100 wickets in ODI cricket. He is also the first player to take 100 ODI wickets before turning 20.

The Afghanistan leg-spinner is also the quickest to reach the milestone taking 44 ODIs; eight games fewer than the previous fastest Mitchell Starc (52 ODIs).

56 – Afghanistan chased down the 205-run target with 56 balls to spare in this game. Only two teams chased a bigger target earlier than Afghanistan in an ODI tournament final. Sri Lanka chased 240 with 79 balls to spare in the 1997 Asia Cup final while Australia chased 223 in the 2004 VB Series final against India with 59 balls to spare. South Africa chased down the target of 210 in the 1997 Quadrangular with 56 balls to spare against Sri Lanka.