West Indies vs Afghanistan

Pooran 98, McCoy three- for blow Afghanistan down

West Indies score their loftiest aggregate in a men's T20 World Cup match as they finished the group stage with a perfect record

West Indies 218 for five (Pooran 98, Charles 43, Naib 2-14) beat Afghanistan 114 (Ibrahim 38, McCoy 3-14) by 104 runs

It's been a World Cup for the bowlers, but Nicholas Pooran set the tone beforehand for a dominant fur display from West Indies as they thrashed Afghanistan to finish the group stage with a perfect record. He tore into Azmatullah Omarzai in the powerplay, who blurted a world record 36 runs in an over. And that was a blow Afghanistan noway relatively recovered from.

Pooran's 98 off just 53 balls helped West Indies to 218 for 5, which was 104 too numerous for Afghanistan in the last group match of the T20 World Cup 2024. The result had little bearing on the Super Eight seedings that werepre-decided with both brigades formerly cementing their spots. Afghanistan were blown down in the chase to be dismissed for 114, with all the five bowlers the hosts used participating the pillages.

It was the loftiest aggregate for West Indies in men's T20 World Mugs, and Pooran, who hit eight sixes in his stay, surpassed Chris Gayle to come the leading six- megahit for them in T20Is.

Edgy Charles sets the tone

He has a stadium named after His Daren Sammy at the National Cricket Stadium and Johnson Charles did not fail.

 He'd two ducks and a 44 heading into the game, and understandably, was conditional at the launch of his innings. Yet he started with a flurry of fours, substantially via outside edges- beating short third to either side in the alternate over and also getting one over point in the third.

Anything with pace, he confidently dealt with. still, Naveen- ul- Haq's change of pace was too important to contend with, and he minced one to cover after a dogfight that saw a dropped chance.

important Pooran raises rattle

Two balls were all Pooran demanded to get his eyes in on a serenader of a pitch in Gros Islet. He gestured his appearance with a record 36- run over against Azmatullah Omarzai, in which he hit three sixes and two fours, including one off a no- ball. Afghanistan usually turns to Mujeeb Ur Rahman for leadership on power. But with Rashid Khan injured, he had to bring himself into power for the first time in this T20 World Cup.

 He was ate with a couple of fours as West Indies finished the powerplay on 92 for 1, the loftiest score in the first six overs in men's T20 World Mugs.

Afghanistan surrounds West India in the middle

At 85 for 1 in five overs, West Indies looked set to bring back a template we were so habituated to in IPL 2024- scores around and over 250. But Rashid and his spin-binary Noor Ahmad used the slight purchase from the face to tie the batters down. And the leg break and the googly and the lengths were varied to keep the batsmen guessing. Face brio also came to their aid. That led to the middle stages (over 7-16) where the West Indies made just 66 and lost two wickets, with only one four and three sixes - two of them from Shai Hope's Mohammad Nab.

meritorious Pooran misses out on ton

The 17th over nearly woke up the sleeping giant Pooran, who got his first four since the powerplay when Gulbadin Naib misfielded one at sweeper cover. He also tore into Rashid, who had numbers of 0 for 21 heading into his last over, in the 18th. Pooran stayed deep in the crinkle and frequently cleared his frontal leg in a shot to convert the good length deliveries that Rashid generally coliseums.

Pooran's leg side had a longer boundary and Rashid's bowling only helped his cause fully. He struck three sixes and a four in the over to take 24 off it, decisively turning the drift in the hosts' favour. He could not do important damage to Naib, who sailed a couple of superb overs for two lattices, using the slower bones to trick the batters. When Pooran clobbered back- to- back sixes in the last over off Naveen, he looked primed to get to a century, only to be denied by a direct gamble from Omarzai from deep cover.

Afghanistan no match in the chase

Coming into the match, Afghanistan's middle order(Nos. 3 to 6) equaled a bare19.71 with the openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran doing the heavy- lifting in the big triumphs against New Zealand and Uganda. Gurbaz fell beforehand trying to take on powerplay enforcer Akeal Hosein, exposing the Afghanistan middle order in a altitudinous chase.

Ibrahim managed to discipline an erring Alzarri Joseph, hitting him for one four and two sixes in the first six overs. He also managed to get a many down from Hosein but couldn't keep down a languid film off Obed McCoy- brought in for Romario Shepherd, who was home for the birth of his alternate child- to deep backward square leg.

Playing his first match in this T20 World Cup, McCoy also dismissed Najibullah Zadran a couple of balls latterly ahead knocking Nabi over to reduce Afghanistan to 63 for 5 inside the tenth over. Omarzai managed to strike a many lusty blows but Hosein,