DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A record third wicket between Ibrahim Zadran and Darwish Rasooli led Afghanistan to a commanding 38-run victory over the West Indies on Monday in the first Twenty20 of their three-match series.
Zadran made a career-best unbeaten 87 from 56 balls and Rasooli scored 84 from 59 balls as they combined in a 162-run stand for a solid total of 181-3.
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The West Indies top order struggled against the experienced spin duo of Rashid Khan (2-19) and Mujeeb Ur Rahman (2-29) before cameos from debutant Quentin Sampson (30) and Gudakesh Motie (28) took them to 143-9.
The series is part of the teams’ preparation for next month’s T20 World Cup, with the West Indies yet to finalize their squad for the mega event to be jointly hosted by India and Sri Lanka.
“As long as we bring our best skills to the game, it doesn’t matter whether we bat first or second,” Afghanistan captain Rashid said. “As a team we are in good shape and I hope we have a good World Cup.”
West Indies made a promising start when Rahmanullah Gurbaz was run out in the first ball and captain Brandon King caught Sediqullah Atal spectacularly one-handed in the slips as Afghanistan slipped to 2-19 in the third over.
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But Zadran and Rasooli then set up Afghanistan’s highest-ever third-wicket partnership in T20s off 113 balls against wayward West Indies bowling. Motie briefly stemmed the flow of runs in the middle overs with his economical four-over spell of 0-18, but both Afghan batters showed plenty of aggression against pace in the second half of the innings.
West Indies were also disjointed in the outfield and lost at least three catches in the deadly overs as Zadran and Rasooli upped the ante and scored 70 runs in the last six overs. Fast bowlers Matthew Forde and Shamar Joseph gave away 91 runs in their eight overs, while left-arm bowler Khary Pierre (0-42) was also costly.
Forde had a consolation wicket off the last ball when Rasooli drilled into the outfield after hitting eight boundaries and two sixes.
West Indies stumbled to 3-42 in the powerplay when Mujeeb bowled King in the first over; Rasooli kept Evin Lewis’ edge in the outfield and Johnson Charles was in weight as he attempted a switch hit against Mujeeb’s quicker delivery.
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Rashid then made an immediate impact by grabbing two wickets in his successive overs, including the key wicket of Shimron Hetmyer, who scored just three from seven balls, as West Indies slipped further to 5-50 in the ninth over.
Sampson and Forde (25) combined in West Indies’ best partnership of 45 before fast bowler Ziaur Rahman, who conceded 16 runs off his first four balls, took two wickets on his return and finished with 3-36.
“We’re disappointed to lose the game,” King said. “We showed glimpses of good cricket, but it wasn’t good enough. Afghanistan are a team that has quite a few good players, we will talk about that on the day off and review the match.”
The next two matches will be played Wednesday Thursday.
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