DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, CMC – Darwish Rasooli starred with the bat for the second straight match. At the same time, off-spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman bamboozled West Indies’ batters as Afghanistan sealed the T20I series with a comfortable 39-run win here on Wednesday.
Similar to Sunday’s opening match, West Indies started positively but were again undone by a third-wicket partnership – this time from Rasooli, who made 68, and Sediqullah Atal, who scored 53 – along with poor fielding, as Afghanistan recovered to post a daunting 189 for four in their 20 overs at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.
West Indies were briefly in the chase during a 68-run stand between captain Brandon King and Shimron Hetmyer, but once they were dismissed, the regional side faded away. It was eventually bowled out for 150 in 18.5 overs.
The win gave Afghanistan, ranked four places below the sixth-ranked Windies in the ICC T20I rankings, an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series, with the final game slated for Thursday.
West Indies once again made early inroads after sending Afghanistan in to bat, with Shamar Joseph having Rahmanullah Gurbaz caught at deep backward point with just nine runs on the board.
It should have been 13 for two in the third over, but Evin Lewis put down a simple catch at midwicket to dismiss Ibrahim Zadran off the bowling of Matthew Forde.
Zadran responded by thumping Joseph for two consecutive fours to begin the fourth over as Afghanistan raced to 33 for one.
Forde got his revenge in his next over, though, bowling Zadran with a slower delivery for 22 to leave the score 37 for two.
Rasooli got off the mark with a boundary in his first delivery and then gave left-arm pacer Ramon Simmonds a brutal introduction by smashing him for three consecutive fours in his first over.
Atal too was given a lifeline when he was 11, on 63 for two, after being dropped at fine leg by Khary Pierre.
It proved to be a costly miss as the two combined in a partnership of 115 runs in only 12 overs that put Afghanistan in the ascendancy.
Rasooli reached his second half-century of the series off 27 balls with a single off Pierre, while Atal, who was put down by wicketkeeper Johnson Charles on 49, arrived at his 50 off 37 balls soon after.
They carried the score to 152 before Atal was finally caught by Quentin Sampson at deep square leg after facing 42 balls and hitting three sixes and two fours.
Rasooli followed him three runs later, with Simmonds having him caught at mid off after belting five fours and three sixes off 39 balls.
The Windies got no reprieve from their dismissals, however, as Azmatullah Omarzai, who scored an unbeaten 26 off 13 balls, and Mohammad Nabi pummeled 34 runs off the last 16 deliveries.
Forde was the Windies’ best bowler with 2-25.
A slow start and the loss of three early wickets then put the West Indies under immense pressure in their search for a series-levelling win.
Alick Athanaze made eight off 12 balls before he was run out by a direct throw from Zadran at mid on, and Ur Rahman accounted for the wickets of Evin Lewis for 13 and Johnson Charles for a first-ball duck, in successive deliveries, to make the score 38 for three after eight overs.
Hetmyer gave the Windies an outside chance of victory in a pulsating knock of 46 off just 17 deliveries, as he and King tried to rebuild the innings. He hit spinner Noor Ahmad for three sixes in the 10th over before King deposited Rashid Khan over the boundary ropes for two more in the ensuing over.
Hetmyer then clobbered Nabi for two sixes and followed up by thumping Ahmad for a six and four to end the 13th over, which carried the Windies to 99 for three.
But just as the two looked set to change the complexion of the match, Fazalhaq Farooqi had Hetmyer caught on the cover boundary to break the partnership.
King recovered from a slow start to reach his half-century, but he holed out at long after scoring 50 off 42 balls to see the Windies slide to 122 for five.
The end came swiftly after that, with the last five wickets adding just 28 runs. Ur Rahman, named Player-of-the-Match, took 4-21, Omarzai returned to take 2-20, while Farooqi claimed 2-28.
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