CWC 2019 Flashback – Windies victorious, Afghanistan return empty-handed

West Indies brought their underwhelming World Cup campaign to a satisfying end as they defeated Afghanistan unit by 23 runs. The Afghans fought well and were in for a serious shout of winning the match at one point. But the overall quality of the Caribbean outfit prevailed. With the win, the Windies finished the tournament with two wins to their name. Afghanistan, on the other hand, returned home empty-handed without registering a single point on the table.

Check out the full scorecard here

Evin Lewis finally comes alive

Evin Lewis had struggled throughout the World Cup with a lack of form and fitness. He finally found some touch, scoring a patient half-century which showed flashes of his ability. Another player who struck form was the mostly-reliable Shai Hope, who also ended up with a score of 77. Their partnership of 88 and an enterprising knock of 39 from Shimron Hetmyer set the stage up for the West Indian lower middle-order to unleash some fireworks.

Pooran and Holder light up the party

Nicholas Pooran continued his blistering form. After a solid start, he had the perfect platform to play his natural game. His innings of 58 off 43 helped the Windies to up the tempo. Skipper Holder (45 off 34 deliveries) gave him good support and their partnership of 105 helped the West Indies cross the 300-run mark. In the end, some lusty blows by Brathwaite propelled the score up to 311/6.

Rahmat and Ikram give Windies the jitters

After losing skipper Gulbadin early, Rahmat Shah and Ikram Ali Khil brilliantly rebuilt the innings. They took their time to settle in and slowly upped the tempo once they started to time the ball better. Rahmat (62 off 78 deliveries) was at his steady best, playing the ball on its merit. But it was young Ikram, who showed a lot of potential in his innings of 86 off only 93 deliveries. Their massive stand of 133 brought Afghanistan back into the game. But after Shah was dismissed by Brathwaite, the middle-order could not sustain the momentum.

The collapse

After the loss of Rahmat, Ikram and Najibullah Zadran tried to carry on the momentum. They also succeeded for a bit, forming a partnership of 51 runs. But the part-time spin of Chris Gayle outfoxed the young wicketkeeper-batsman and Afghanistan had to endure a collapse of sorts from then on. Soon after the dismissal of Khil, Najibullah followed suit being run-out. The remaining batters then fell like a pack of cards. The Afghans suddenly found themselves on 255/8 after being 189-3 at one stage. With the flurry of wickets, all hopes of winning their first match were lost for Afghanistan as they were bowled out for 288.