Twitter Reactions: Windies end their World Cup campaign on a high; Afghanistan remain winless

Afghanistan fought hard but ended up short in the steep chase. This was also their best effort with the bat.

By CricTracker Staff verified

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Windies Players
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Windies Players. (Photo Source: Twitter)

Windies have defeated Afghanistan by 30 runs in their final league match of the 2019 World Cup. The decent crowd at Headingley was treated to some brilliant cricket from both the sides even as Afghanistan ended their campaign winless, unfortunately. They fought bravely and scored their highest total in the tournament but it wasn’t enough in the chase. They fell short of the target, in the end, by 23 runs but must’ve learnt a lot from the tournament.

Afghanistan didn’t get off to a good start in the steep chase with their skipper Gulbadin Naib getting out early. After sending him at four in the previous game, the team management promoted Ikram Ali Khil even further today and the youngster pounced on the opportunity with both the hands. He and Rahmat Shah played some attractive shots and formed a brilliant partnership.

They looked technically perfect to treat the crowd with some elegant shots and added 133 runs for the second wicket. It also kept Afghanistan in the game and finally, they sent Najibullah Zadran up the order. Rahmat Shah got out to Carlos Brathwaite on 62 which brought the left-hander in the middle. Najibullah looked extremely good during his 31-run knock but was involved in a mix-up with Asghar Afghan and got out.

Ikram missed out on a well-deserved ton but was pinned in front of the stumps by none other than Chris Gayle on 86. Soon Mohammad Nabi’s poor tournament with the bat ended and Afghanistan fell apart badly. Afghan threatened to take the game away but his wicket in the 45th over was the final nail in the coffin for Afghanistan. They could eventually get to 288 runs after 50 overs as the last wicket fell on the last ball of the innings. It was a brilliant effort from them but still fell short of the victory.

Windies batting clicks finally

Earlier in the day, Jason Holder won the toss and opted to bat first on a good pitch at Headingley. Chris Gayle couldn’t do much with the bat in his final World Cup but the crowd gave him a standing ovation on his return to the dressing room. Shai Hope and Evin Lewis then stitched an exciting partnership of 88 runs for the second wicket which laid the foundation for the batsmen to come.

While the duo took a little time to get those many runs, Shimron Hetmyer came out and played fearlessly. However, he lived by the sword and died by the sword but not before scoring 39 runs off 31 deliveries. Hope, meanwhile, looked good for a century but threw it away after scoring 77 runs. Mohammad Nabi trapped him with some clever bowling at deep mid-wicket.

However, there was no stopping the Caribbean batsmen on the day as Nicholas Pooran and Jason Holder formed a crucial stand. The duo added 105 runs in just 69 deliveries to take the team close to 300. While Pooran scored 58 runs off just 43 balls, his skipper got missed out on a well-deserved half-century by just five runs. Carlos Brathwaite though ended with a flourish scoring 14 runs off four balls itself to propel the Windies to 311 for the loss of six wickets after 50 overs.

The score was just enough in the end as Afghanistan fell 23 runs short of the target after fighting tooth and nail through the chase.

Here’s how Twitter reacted:

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