West Indies 138 for 6 (Hope 48*, Lewis 33, Rashid 3-26, Naib 2-15) beat Afghanistan 135 (Naib 51, Joseph 2-15, Gabriel 2-35) by four wickets
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Gulbadin Naib scored 51 and took two wickets © AFP
Stung by their 63-run defeat in the first ODI, West Indies hit back via their fast bowlers, who exposed Afghanistan’s frailties against the short ball as they slid to 135 all out. West Indies’ batting, though, isn’t without frailties of its own, and Rashid Khan, responsible for bowling them out for 149 on Friday, caused yet another serious wobble with his zippy, stump-to-stump legbreaks and googlies. Afghanistan’s total, though, proved a fair way short of matchwinning as Shai Hope held a shaky chase together and steered West Indies to a series-levelling six-wicket win.
Afghanistan could perhaps have pushed West Indies even closer with more aggressive tactics. Asghar Stanikzai, their captain, only brought Rashid on in the seventh over, by which time Evin Lewis and Kieran Powell had already knocked 37 off the target.
Rashid struck in his very first over, getting Powell to nick a googly to slip, and then went around the wicket in his third over to trap Lewis lbw with another perfectly pitched wrong ‘un. This was high-quality bowling, and West Indies’ batsmen, unsure of which way the ball would turn, were stabbing nervously at him with leaden feet. Stanikzai, though, took Rashid off the attack after only a five-over spell.
Gulbadin Naib, who had already made a sizeable contribution by scoring his third ODI fifty, then brought Afghanistan more cheer with his medium-pace, dismissing Jonathan Carter – who showed poor judgment while cutting – and Jason Mohammed in his first three overs.
With West Indies four down, Stanikzai brought Rashid back after only two overs from Amir Hamza. Shai Hope and Roston Chase played out the legspinner’s sixth and seventh overs, but he struck again with the last ball of his eighth, flighting it wide of off stump and inviting the drive. Dip deceived Chase into reaching for the ball, turn made him miss it, and all of that unbalanced him enough to drag him out of his crease. Afsar Zazai’s lightning hands did the rest behind the stumps.
By then, though, West Indies only needed 38, and only needed one reasonable partnership. Hope and Rovman Powell provided that, and Jason Holder applied the necessary touch of urgency at the finish.
More to follow…
Karthik Krishnaswamy is a senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
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Source: ESPN Crickinfo