After a gap of 5 years, West Indies registered their first ODI series win beating Afghanistan by 48 runs in the 2nd One day international match played at Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajypee Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow on Saturday.
Afghanistan captain Rashid Khan won the toss and decided to field first. West Indies openers Shai Hope and Evin Lewis started off to a cautious start taking singles and hitting occasional boundaries. At the end of 10 overs, West Indies scored 45 for 0.
After the power play overs, Hope and Evin Lewis continued to make the batting look easy. Lewis reached his fifty off 71 balls. Afghan captain Rashid got the breakthrough dismissing Shai Hope for 43. Hope and Lewis added 98 runs for the opening wicket. Afghanistan bowlers made a strong comeback into the match picking 3 quick wickets. Nicolas Pooran came to the crease and took the attack to Afghan bowlers with aggressive hitting. Pooran reached his fifty off 38 balls and scored a quick fire 67 off 50 balls with 7 fours and 3 sixes. Romario Shephard gave full support to Pooran and added 50 runs for the 7th wicket. West Indies posted 247 for 9 in 50 overs. Naveen-ul- Haq took 3 for 60 while Rashid Khan, Mohammad Nabi, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Sharfuddin Ashraf, Javed Ahmadi took 1 wicket each.
Chasing 248 runs to win, Afghanistan got off to a worse possible start as they lost an wicket of Javed Ahmadi in the very first over. Hazratullah Zazai and Rahmat Shah steadied the Afghan innings taking singles and hitting boundaries. At the end of 10 overs, Afghanistan were 45 for 1.
After the power play overs, a brilliant run out by Pollard and Joseph ended the innings for Rahmat Shah for 33. Rahmat and Zazai added 53 runs for the 2nd wicket. West Indies kept it tight and not allowed Afghan batsmen to score runs but also reduced the hosts to 109 for 5. Najibullah Zadran and Mohammad Nabi rescued the innings for Afghanistan putting pressure on West Indies bowlers. Zadran made the batting look easy and reached his fifty off 62 balls. As things looked promising for Afghanistan, Sheldon Cottrell took wickets of Zadran and Nabi in successive balls. Zadran and Nabi added 68 runs for the 6th wicket.
After the fall of Zadran’s wicket, West Indies kept picking wickets and bowled out Afghanistan for 200. For West Indies, Cottrell, Chase and Walsh Junior took 3 wickets each.
West Indies 247 for 9 in 50 overs ( Nicolas Pooran 67, Naveen-ul-Haq 3/60) beat Afghanistan 200 in 45.4 overs ( Najibullah Zadran 56, Sheldon Cottrell 3/29, Roston Chase 3/30) by 47 runs.
West Indies takes an unassailable 2-0 lead in the 3 match ODI Series. The third and final ODI will be played at the same ground on 11th November.
