Zadran and Rasooli lead Afghanistan to 38-run win over West Indies in first T20
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Ibrahim Zadran scored an unbeaten career-best 87 off 56 balls and Darwish Rasooli made 84 off 59 balls in a record-breaking 162-run third-wicket partnership as Afghanistan posted 181-3 to beat West Indies by 38 runs in the first Twenty20 of a three-match series on Monday.
Rashid Khan took 2-19 and Mujeeb Ur Rahman claimed 2-29 to dismantle the West Indies top order, restricting them to 143-9. Debutant Quentin Sampson scored 30 and Gudakesh Motie made 28 in a late fightback.
Afghanistan captain Rashid Khan said, “As long as we are bringing our best skills to the game, it doesn’t matter whether we bat first or second. As a team, we are fit and hopefully we will have a good World Cup.”
West Indies started strongly by running out Rahmanullah Gurbaz on the first ball and captain Brandon King taking a one-handed catch to dismiss Sediqullah Atal, reducing Afghanistan to 19-2 in the third over. Zadran and Rasooli then built Afghanistan’s highest third-wicket stand in T20s off 113 balls, accelerating against wayward pace bowling to add 70 runs in the last six overs. West Indies dropped at least three catches in the death overs, with fast bowlers Matthew Forde and Shamar Joseph conceding 91 runs in eight overs and Khary Pierre going for 0-42.
In reply, Mujeeb clean bowled King in the first over, Rasooli caught Evin Lewis, and Johnson Charles fell lbw to Mujeeb as West Indies slumped to 42-3 in the powerplay. Rashid took two wickets in successive overs, including Shimron Hetmyer for 3, leaving West Indies at 50-5. Sampson and Forde added 45, but Ziaur Rahman took 3-36 to seal the win.
West Indies captain King said, “We are disappointed to lose the game. We showed glimpses of good cricket but it wasn’t good enough. Afghanistan are a team that have quite a few good spinners, we will talk about it on the day off and review the game.”
The series is preparation for next month’s T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka. The next matches are on Wednesday and Thursday.
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