Twitter Reactions: West Indies continue to dominate Afghanistan as the visitors take 1-0 lead in the T20I series

It has been a tough year for West Indies, who hadn’t registered a single win this year in the format they have excelled before playing against Afghanistan on Thursday. They produced a sturdy performance on a track that produced a decent amount of turn and Evin Lewis’s explosive batting early on in the day ended up making a huge difference.

Afghanistan won the toss early in the day and decided to field first. Mujeeb Ur Rahman provided the first breakthrough for the Afghans, removing Brandon King in the very first over. Shimron Hetmyer and Evin Lewis stitched an important partnership at this juncture, striking some lusty blows when it mattered.

Lewis took the role of an aggressor and Hetmyer was struggling a bit to get the big shots, hence kept taking a few singles. Their partnership accounted for 91 runs in double-quick time, with the team’s scoring rate above 9. Lewis completed his 5th T20I half-century and shortly after that, West Indies lost both the set batsmen in a short span.

The Afghan bowlers did a commendable job after that and conceded under 7 an over in the final 10 overs. Kieron Pollard smacked some boundaries towards the end and saw his side beyond the 160-mark. The visitors scored 164 runs for the loss of 5 wickets. Naib picked up a brace for the Afghans.

Pollard and Williams of West Indies restrict the Asian side

Jason Holder provided the first breakthrough for Afghanistan in the second over of the innings, dismissing Rahmatullah Gurbaz. Sheldon Cottrell then struck the second blow and the Afghans were in deep trouble. Asghar Afghan and Hazratullah Zazai stitched a recovery partnership, where the scoring rate wasn’t good but they set the team up well for the middle order to take over.

Once they lost Zazai and Afghan in a span of 12 balls, the team completely lost their way. Kesrick Williams and Hayden Walsh did a fabulous job in the middle overs to restrict the team completely. They conceded just 65 in the final 10 overs, which saw Afghanistan get bundled out for 134 runs for the loss of 9 wickets.

Fareed Malik ended up with a brilliant 24 towards the end, that saw the side end with some respectability. Kesrick Williams picked up 3 wickets, giving away just 17 runs. Skipper Kieron Pollard picked up two big wickets of Asghar Afghan and Najibullah Zadran in the middle over.

Here’s how Twitter reacted:

Most Player of the Match awards for #WestIndies in #T20I #Cricket:

9 – Chris Gayle
6 – Marlon Samuels
5 – Evin Lewis, Daren Sammy
4 – Sunil Narine
3 – Dwayne Bravo, Andre Fletcher, Dwayne Smith
2 – Ramnaresh Sarwan, Lendl Simmons, #KieronPollard*#AFGvWI #WIvAFG

— CricApp (@TheCricApp) November 14, 2019

🇦🇫v🌴#AFGvWI Kesrick Williams is grateful to be back with the #MenInMaroon.
🔊 "We planned..and we executed."
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/Y3n27AgPje

— Windies Cricket (@windiescricket) November 14, 2019

Game 4 of the Pollard- Simmons leadership. 4th win.

West Indies thump Afghanistan by 30 runs in the 1st T20I

Afghanistan chasing 165 to win could only make 134/9

Pollard MOM for 32* and 2/17

Excellent contributions by

Williams 3/17
Walsh Jr 2/34#AFGvWI

— Caribbean Cricket Podcast (@CaribCricket) November 14, 2019

Brilliant performances from Evin Lewis, Kesrick Williams and an all-round @KieronPollard55 helped @windiescricket carry their winning form to the T20I series as well winning the 1st match of Azizi Bank T20I Cup by 30 runs.

Report:https://t.co/f7J7i2SwUx#AFGvWI pic.twitter.com/sP6nBUyhRp

— Afghanistan Cricket Board (@ACBofficials) November 14, 2019

🇦🇫v🌴#AFGvWI @KieronPollard55 took Man of the Match for his performance with bat & ball! 32(22) & 2/17 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽 #MenInMaroon pic.twitter.com/8rBStq10Od

— Windies Cricket (@windiescricket) November 14, 2019

🔸Kieron Pollard Hit 51 Sixes in 54 innings in T20I.

🔸He Hit 176 Sixes in 135 innings in IPL.

And he managed to hit only 1 Six in 22 balls against Afghanistan Yesterday. In IPL he smashed 3 or 4 Sixes in Over. What's a Reason behind him not Hitting Sixes for WI Team??🙄

— W a s i f 🏏🔥 (@_cricketFreak) November 14, 2019

Kieron Pollard winning man-of-the-match in his first match as captain in the T20I format. Good start to his new journey.

— Johns (@CricCrazyJohns) November 14, 2019

3️⃣2️⃣ runs
2️⃣ wickets
3️⃣0️⃣ run win

A successful T20I captaincy debut for Kieron Pollard as West Indies take a 1-0 in the series against Afghanistan 👏#AFGvWI 👇https://t.co/vFOB8881xb pic.twitter.com/HOPlxtq1HV

— SUMIT 🇮🇳 (@indianarmy08) November 14, 2019

Most runs in all T20s in 2019
– Babar Azam 1607
– Kieron Pollard 1281
– AB de Villiers 1265#WIvAFG #AFGvWI

— Shashikant Singh (@shashi_CB) November 14, 2019