Afghanistan and West Indies tour of India 2019

Cornwall grabbed a lot of headlines on his Test debut against India at Sabina Park earlier this year. Weighing a whopping 143 Kilograms, the Antigua-born player is the heaviest cricketer to play international cricket to date. With players like Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis being in their headlines.

Afghanistan in their last Test match thrashed Bangladesh by 224 runs. The win Afghanistan’s first at home, saw Rahmat Shah become the nation’s first-ever Test centurion, while Rashid Khan, who captained the team, became Afghanistan’s first-ever bowler to complete a 10-wicket haul. West Indies, on the other, were thrashed 0-2 by India at home.

The Bangla Tigers and Delhi Bulls square off in the last game of the day with both sides stuck at two points. In Group A, the Tigers currently are at top spot owing to a better run rate in Group A which was made possible thanks to a morale-boosting win against Karnataka Tuskers. The Delhi Bulls won handsomely against the Deccan Gladiators but losT to the Karnataka Tuskers

Naveen-ul-Haq was the top wicket-taker for the hosts with three scalps, which included the important wickets of captain Kieron Pollard and Jason Holder. Gulbadin Naib got the big wicket of Shai Hope, who scored 52 off 46 balls. Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Karim Janat and captain Rashid Khan all got a wicket each.

West Indies will be chasing to whitewash Afghanistan in the limited-overs series having already clean-swept the ODI series 3-0. The ODI series defeat extended Afghanistan‘s ODI losing streak to 12 match streak but the Afghans have somehow rediscovered their form in the shortest format of cricket.

West Indies, who clean-swept the ODI series 3-0, beat Afghanistan by 30 runs in the first Twenty20 International to take a 1-0 lead. West Indies, who were asked to bat first, smashed 164 runs with Evin Lewis smashing 68 from 41 deliveries, which had of four boundaries and six maximums. Skipper Kieron Pollard then produced an all-round performance to lead his side to victory.

West Indies emerged victorious in the opening clash and thus have taken a 1-0 lead in a three-match affair. A win in the upcoming encounter will seal the deal for them while Afghanistan will have to win this upcoming game in order to stay alive in the series.

Afghanistan’s team is very similar to that which played in the ODIs but the return of Gulbadin Naib will give them confidence as he is a very capable bowler and also offers some big hitting down the order. On the other hand, Lendl Simmons, Sherfane Rutherford and Dinesh Ramdin come into the West Indies squad after missing out from the ODIs

This amazing display of awareness by Pollard left everyone in splits including the umpire. With no delivery being bowled, the call was shifted to a dead ball. The umpire usually calls a no-ball loudly so that the batsman can make full utilization of that delivery.

Put into bat, Afghanistan put up a fighting total of 249/7 in the allotted 50 overs. Asghar Afghan top-scored for Afghanistan with a quickfire 86, while Hazratullah Zazai and Mohammad Nabi chipped in useful half-centuries. Keemo Paul was the pick of the Windies bowlers, returning with figures of 3/44.

Afghanistan will square off against West Indies in the 3rd ODI of the three-match series. The game will be held on Nov 11, 2019, at Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow. West Indies currently leads the series by 2-0 and have already won this tournament.

Afghanistan will look forward to avoiding a whitewash against West Indies when they will play the 3rd ODI against them on Nov 11, 2019. The game will be held at Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow. Afghanistan is the host in the on-going series and they receive decent support from the Indian crowd.