A disciplined bowling effort by the West Indies helped them clinch the third T20 International against Afghanistan, coming out winners by 15 runs in what was a closely fought game.
West Indies Innings
Batting first, the West Indies got off to a good start but also struggled to score runs with Afghanistan's tight bowling. In the powerplay, from overs 0.1-6.0, they managed just 43 runs as they lost one wicket. A turning point in the game was in the 6th over when Afghanistan won a review against Keacy Carty, who was given out by the third umpire.
West Indies reached 50 runs in 7.3 overs with not much coming as extras. The middle overs were slow, batting-wise, because Afghan bowlers kept the pressure going and did not allow any free stroke-play. Regularly falling wickets resulted in West Indies reaching 100 runs in 14.6 overs.
Late acceleration assisted them in crossing 150 runs mark in the next over. But at crucial stages, Afghanistan struck to restrict their overall total. West Indies concluded at 151/7 off 20 overs, where 16 runs came through a contribution by SK Springer and remained undefeated on 2 by Gudakesh Motie at the innings break itself.
Afghanistan Innings
Afghanistan chased 152 with confidence. Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran gave their team a strong start, adding 45 runs without any losses in the powerplay. Afghanistan reached their half-century in 6.2 overs with the help of some extras too.
Gurbaz was the anchor for his team and was accompanied to his half-century in 44 balls with the help of five fours and a six. The Afghan team reached 100 runs in 14.6 overs, but the game was soon altered with the wickets falling to the bowlers.
Regular breakthroughs in the death overs halted Afghanistan’s chase. Though they were boosted with Gurbaz’s resistance, the dismissal of the players at regular time points caused the run rate to accelerate appreciably. Eventually, Afghanistan managed 136/8 in 20 overs.
Result
It took West Indies immense composure to hold their nerves to win the game by 15 runs and conclude the third T20I with an impressive performance by all departments while restricting Afghanistan from achieving victory with the sort of start that had begun.