Rashid takes seven as Afghans stun Windies
GROS-ISLET, Saint Lucia: Rashid Khan destroyed the West Indies batting line-up with outstanding figures of seven for 18 to bowl Afghanistan to a stunning 63-run victory in the opening fixture of a three-match OneDay International series at the Darren Sammy Stadium in St Lucia on Friday.
After opener Javed Ahmadi’s 81 provided the foundation for the visitors’ total of 212 for six batting first, the leg-spinner Khan tore through an inept home team batting line-up to claim the fourth-best bowling figures ever in an ODI, routing the Caribbean side for 149 off 44.4 overs to take a 1-0 lead in the series ahead of the second match at the same venue on Sunday.
Surprisingly brought on as the sixth bowler by his captain, Asghar Stanikzai, with the West Indies at 68 for two after 22 overs, Afghanistan’s premier bowler had an instant, devastating impact, removing Jason Mohammed and debutant Roston Chase with his first two deliveries and then repeating the feat at the start of his second over in prising out topscorer Shai Hope (35) and captain Jason Holder.
At that point, he had taken four for one and he added the scalp of Ashley Nurse shortly after to have the hosts tottering at 90 for seven.
J“I have worked hard bowling and this was on my a really AFGHANISTAN Noor Ali Zadran c wkpr Hope b Holder 5 J Ahmadi c wkpr Hope b Cummins 81 R Shah c Carter b Gabriel 17 A Stanikzai lbw Nurse 2 S Shenwari c Holder b Nurse 22 M Nabi not out 27 A Zazai c Chase b Joseph 13 G Naib not out 41 Extras (w-4) 4 Total (6 wkts, 50 overs) 212 Fall of wickets: 1-13, 2-68, 3-87, 4-131, 5-131, 6-154 Bowling: S Gabriel 8-2-21-1, J Holder 10-065-1, M Cummins 10-1-32-1, A Joseph 100-52-1, A Nurse 10-1-34-2, R Chase 2-0-8-0 WEST INDIES E Lewis c Hamza b Naib 21 K Powell lbw Dawlat Zadran 2 S Hope c Nabi b Khan 35 J Mohammed c Nabi b Khan 7 R Chase lbw Khan 0 J Carter c sub b Dawlat Zadran 19 A Nurse lbw Khan 12 A Joseph lbw Khan 27 M Cummins b Khan 5 S Gabriel not out 2 Extras (lb-2, w-17) 19 Total (all out, 44.4 overs) 149 Fall of wickets: 1-3, 2-41, 3-68, 4-68, 5-70, 6-70, 7-90, 8-135, 9-144 Bowling: D Zadran 8-1-25-2, M Nabi 10-034-0, A Hamza 9-0-28-0, G Naib 8-0-31-1, S Shenwari 1-0-11-0, R Khan 8.4-1-18-7 special effort for the people of Afghanistan who have suffered so much in the past week,” said Khan on receiving the ‘Man of the Match’ award and acknowledging the devastating truck bombing that killed more than 150 people in Kabul last week.