GROS ISLET, St Lucia, CMC – Nicholas Pooran perished agonizingly short of a maiden Twenty20 International hundred as West Indies made a bold statement ahead of the Super Eights, with a dominant 104-run victory over the previously unbeaten Afghanistan in the final group stage game of the T20 World Cup here late Monday.
The enterprising left-hander belted a career-best 98 from 53 deliveries, the cornerstone of the Caribbean side’s 218 for five off their 20 overs – their highest-ever total at a T20 World Cup and the highest of the current showpiece.
Man-of-the-Match Pooran lashed a half-dozen fours and eight sixes. He looked a sure bet for triple figures before he was run out off the fourth delivery of the final over, Azmatullah Omarzai’s throw from the deep making a direct hit at the striker’s end as the batsman hurried for a second.
Opener Johnson Charles also sparkled with 43 off 27 deliveries in front of his home fans at the Daren Sammy Cricket Stadium, while captain Rovman Powell (26) and Shai Hope (25) produced essential cameos.
Left-arm pacer Obed McCoy, in his first match of the tournament, then claimed three for 14 from three overs while left-arm spinners Akeal Hosein (2-21) and Gudakesh Motie (2-28) grabbed a brace of wickets each to send Afghanistan crashing to 114 all out in the 17th over.
Ibrahim Zadran (38) and Omarzai (23) were the only ones to pass 20 in a miserable batting effort that saw Afghanistan never really recover from losing the tournament’s leading run-scorer, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, to the third ball of the chase without a run on the board.
The win was West Indies’ fourth on the trot in Group C, keeping them on a winning streak ahead of their opening Super Eight fixture against England on Wednesday.
“It feels perfect,” Powell said afterward.
“It goes to show all the hard work that the boys have put in over the last 12 months is paying off. We need to keep playing good cricket; while doing that, we keep improving.”
He added: “I think the guys were excited to come here. We always knew that here would be one of the better batting wickets in the competition.
“After experiencing Guyana and after experiencing Trinidad, the guys were excited – especially the batters – to get some runs under their belt. Credit has to be given; they took their opportunities tonight.”
Charles, already with two ‘ducks’ in his last three innings, provided the early flourish after West Indies were sent in, striking eight fours in a 27-ball knock that fuelled an 80-run, second wicket stand with Pooran, the home side storming to a jaw-dropping 92 in the first power-play.
When Charles chipped a soft catch low to cover at the end of the eighth over from pacer Naveen-ul-Haq, Pooran took control of the innings, putting on 33 for the third wicket with Hope and a further 64 for the fourth with Powell while gathering his 12th T20I fifty off 31 balls in the 14th over and surpassing 2 000 T20I runs when he reached 86.
He humbled feared leg-spinner Rashid Khan, brutally exacting 24 from the captain’s fourth over and 18th of the innings, West Indies plundering 70 from the last five overs.
Staring at a required run rate of nearly 11, the Afghans crumbled. Gurbaz tugged Hosein to mid-on in the opening over, and while Ibrahim and Gulbadin Naib (7) posted 45 for the second wicket, the scoring was slow, and the required rate rose to nearly 13.
McCoy ripped the heart out of the chase when he knocked over Ibrahim and Najibullah Zadran (0) in his first over – the eighth of the innings – and when he brought one back sharply to bowl Mohammad Nabi for one early in the 10th over, Afghanistan were tottering on 63 for five with no way back.
and then 