West Indies vs Afghanistan Highlights, T20 World Cup: Nicholas Pooran's Powerful Knock Propels West Indies To Big Win vs Afghanistan

We are back for the all-important run chase! The two Umpires have made their way out to the middle. Rovman Powell marches his troops into the field and the West Indian players are taking their respective fielding positions. Ibrahim Zadran and Rahmanullah Gurbaz, the explosive right-handed duo are the two openers for Afghanistan. And as usual, Akeal Hosein will be opening the bowling attack for the Windies. And, here we go...

... THE RUN CHASE ...

Right then, the West Indies have amassed 218 on the board and Afghanistan has a steep slope to climb. A lot will depend on how the Afghanistan openers initiate the innings as they have the requisite firepower in their arsenal. West Indies will be aiming to take early wickets and exert pressure early on. Stay tuned as Afghanistan's reply with the bat is up next shortly.

The Afghan bowlers were just getting smoked right from the get-go. Dot balls were like unicorns out there, hardly any to be seen. Azmatullah Omarzai did pick up Brandon King's wicket early, but that was literally the only thing that went right for their bowling in the Powerplay. None of the other bowlers could put a lid on the run-scoring. And to make matters even worse for them, Azmatullah himself got absolutely carted for 36 runs in his second over which just completely opened the floodgates and really put a dent in their whole bowling attack. Further adding to the woes, Mohammad Nabi shelled a crucial catch of Charles but Naveen Ul Haq got the better of him in that very over. However, Noor Ahmed and Rashid Khan were able to settle things down a bit in the middle overs. With the spinners getting some grip, and the pressure they created with their turn helped, and it allowed Gulbadin Naib to finally strike and get a much-needed wicket for them. The bowlers then focused on taking the pace off the ball, which prevented the batters from playing freely like they did earlier. However, Rashid Khan conceded 24 off his last over which again robbed the momentum from them. Gulbadin came back for the penultimate over and dismissed the dangerous Powell. But Afghanistan literally leaked runs by conceding 70 runs in the last 5 overs and were quite sloppy in the field as well.

West Indies have just notched up the highest first innings total in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup, 2024, and this is their highest total in the T20 World Cups. But boy, oh boy! Aren't you entertained? A sheer box-office at St. Lucia! The West Indies came out swinging hard right from the start! Johnson Charles and Nicholas Pooran went bonkers on the Afghan bowlers, despite losing Brandon King super early. Johnson Charles had a bit of a scratchy and an edgy start, but he still found a way to keep finding the ropes. When Nicholas Pooran walked in, he just started tonking the bowlers into the stands, where every shot was a clean strike into the crowd. These two kept piling on the boundaries and capitalizing on that Powerplay. By the end of it, they had racked up 92 runs, the highest ever Powerplay score in T20 World Cup history, decimating the opposition bowling attack. Charles departed on 43 but ensured his team got off to a flier. Things slowed down a bit around the halfway mark as Pooran and Hope focused on singles and carefully handled the spinners. They built a 33-run partnership before Hope got out for 25. Nicholas Pooran who got off to a blitz, notched up a brilliant half-century. The run rate still kept hovering around 10s. The skipper Rovman Powell, who was in search of runs, then provided a solid hand of 26 runs. Nicholas Pooran then said 'enough', going all guns blazing against Rashid, and opened the floodgates in the 18th over fetching 24 runs. His inning was graced by 8 towering sixes but unfortunately, he missed his ton by a shade 2 runs. West Indies finished up at 218 in the end.

IN THE AIR AND DROPPED! Oh dear! That sums up Afghanistan's day so far! Naveen-ul-Haq bowls another slower delivery, full and on middle, Andre Russell mistimes his slog high in the air towards deep mid-wicket, Rashid Khan runs to his right, gets under it but spills it out in the end. Two runs taken. West Indies finishes on a massive 218/5!

Slower one, full and outside off, Sherfane Rutherford drags it towards long on for a single.

Sherfane Rutherford walks in at number 7.

OUT! RUN OUT! Oh..no! That is just unlucky for Nicholas Pooran! This is another full toss, on off, Nicholas Pooran drills it wide of deep point and turns around for the second run to keep the strike, Azmatullah Omarzai picks up and fires in a rocket throw towards the batter's end and hits bullseye, Pooran puts in a desperate dive but that is not good enough to save him. Nicky P has to go back for a smashing 98 and just misses out on a well-deserved ton.

A good wide yorker now, outside off, Nicholas Pooran goes down across to swipe it away but fails to connect this time. He remains on 97 for now.