Afganistan fought back hard in the second T20I and registered a supreme win over the visiting side after a complicated ODI series and losing the first T20I. With just one more opportunity to make their record look better, West Indies won their first T20I of the year last game after seven defeats and then collapsed to an eight defeat this year leaving them.
After winning the toss earlier Afganistan decided to bat first. Forgoing in a traditional way a bold decision was taken by Rashid khan and that by giving a strong start with the willow Hazratuallah Zazai repaid the faith. In four overs they went past the 40 marks, but both openers were dismissed by Kesrick Williams with consecutive deliveries and there began their downfall in the fifth over.
Jason Holder joined the party next, dismissing Asghar Afghan and soon after, Karim Janat. The side had lost their scoring spree and found it difficult to get the boundaries. Keemo Paul was exceptional in the middle overs and returned with two very important wickets Ibrahim Zadran and Mohammad Nabi.
As it turned out, all the sides could manage in their 20 overs was 147 runs for the loss of 7 wickets. Kesrick Williams was the pick of the bowlers among the West Indies, who returned with figures of 3/23 in his 4 overs with Jason Holder and Keemo Paul picking two wickets each.
Karim Janat stars with the ball
While defending targets of such nature, the bowling team expects a minimum of two wickets in the powerplay overs to stay relevant. The Afghans just got one run but conceded just 29 runs in the first six overs, which saw a drastic surge in the required rate. Naveen-ul-Haq provided the only breakthrough in this phase, dismissing Brandon King.
Karim Janat then bowled a spell of a lifetime, dismissing four big players in the middle order in quick succession. After getting rid of Shimaran Hetmyer in the 8th over, he returned with two scalps in the 10th over – Evin Lewis and Sherfane Rutherford. In the 12th over, he got the big fish, skipper Kieron Pollard by trapping him in front of the stumps.
West Indies’ scoring rate never picked up the pace which needed with all the bowlers sticking to the basics and showing up with a disciplined performance. Karim Janat picked up a five-for, conceding just 11 runs in his 4 overs. West Indies could only manage 106 runs in their 20 overs, thus gifting a 41-run win for Rashid and his troops.
