West Indies 151 for 7 (King 47, Forde 27, Rashid 2-13, Ahmadzai 2-30) won Afghanistan 136 for 8 (Gurbaz 71, Springer 4-20) by 15 runs
Shamar Springer scored a hat-trick in the penultimate over as West Indies fought back to deny Afghanistan a 3-0 sweep in Dubai. Springer, who got a game in place of Shamar Joseph, dismissed Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Rashid Khan and Shahidullah with clever variations of pace and length to make his case for the T20 World Cup.
Springer’s fantastic 19th over, which cost West Indies just five runs, left Ramon Simmonds with 19 to defend from the 20th over. The left-arm rookie quick, who is also vying for a place in the West Indies T20 World Cup squad, sealed West Indies’ victory with a collection of yorkers and low, hard-to-hit deliveries.
A West Indies victory looked especially unlikely after Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran added 59 in seven overs in Afghanistan’s chase of 152. Led by Gurbaz’s half-century, Afghanistan remained in control for the most part, until Springer’s intervention in the 19th over. The all-rounder became the third West Indies player, after Jason Holder and Romario Shepherd, to take a hat-trick in men’s T20Is. He celebrated the feat with his trademark chest roll and upstaged Rashid Khan, who had unleashed an unstoppable spell of 4-0-13-2 earlier in the day.
WI Upside Down Entries
After being asked to bat, the West Indies could only manage 27 in four overs. Johnson Charles had returned to the top in the absence of Alick Athanaze and Evin Lewis, the latter missing this match with a neck injury sustained on Wednesday. Charles worked his way to 17 runs before exposing his stumps to Shahidullah, only to be bowled.
King, the stand-in captain, drove Shahidullah and Mujeeb Ur Rahman for sixes in the powerplay but could not keep Afghanistan’s spin ace Rashid away. The wrist spin saw King pocket 47 off 35 balls and gave him a feisty dismissal in the 15th over.
In the same over, Rashid bowled Shimron Hetmyer around his legs for 13 off six balls. While Hetmyer was baffled by the way he was dismissed, it was business as usual for Rashid, who made a mistake and broke his legs off the field. Rashid is now just four strikes away from becoming the first player to reach 700 T20 wickets.
Matthew Forde and Springer then picked up the pace, helping the West Indies to 40 off the last three overs of their innings. Forde beat Zaiur Rahman Sharifi for two sixes during his 11-ball 27, while Springer removed Abdollah Ahmadzai for a pair of fours in the 19th over. Springer would have a more telling impact with the ball in the 19th over of the second innings.
Gurbaz leads the chase
Gurbaz had a quiet start, scoring just 17 off 19 balls in the powerplay, but got his bearings in the seventh when he bowled all-rounder Justin Greaves for three fours in a run of 14. After Forde shortened Zadran’s innings with 28 off 27 balls, Gurbaz went ahead to add to his fifty off 44 balls. He reduced Afghanistan’s equation to 58 off 36 balls with nine wickets in hand.
It was Springer who started the West Indies comeback by having Sediqullah Atal clip a short ball behind the keeper for 7 off 11 balls. Khary Pierre then pinned Darwish Rasooli lbw for 4 off six balls to create more tension. Gurbaz, however, dispelled some of that tension when he pounced and swept Pierre for consecutive fours in his next over.
The Springer Show
It came down to Afghanistan needing 25 off 12 balls. Springer first caught Gurbaz on the midwicket boundary, with Fore taking a hokey-pokey catch, for 71 off 58 balls. On the next ball, Rashid clipped one with his wrists to the deep third, and Pierre completed a catch. The West Indies lost at least eight catches in three matches, according to ESPNcricinfo records, but their defenders improved in Thursday’s finals.
Springer completed the hat-trick by defeating Shaidullah. Although Mujeeb hit the last ball of the over for four, in the end Afghanistan had a lot to do.
While this was Afghanistan’s last T20I before heading to India for the T20 World Cup, the West Indies will travel to South Africa for a three-match T20I series before arriving in Kolkata, the scene of their 2016 T20 World Cup victory.
